Hobbs, J., Gibb, C.J. and Mandle, R. orcid.org/0000-0001-9816-9661 (2024) Emergent Anti-Ferroelectric Ordering and the Coupling of Liquid Crystalline and Polar Order. Small Science. ISSN 2688-4046
Abstract
Polar liquid crystals possess 3D orientational order coupled with unidirectional electric polarity, yielding fluid ferroelectrics. Such polar phases are generated by rod-like molecules with large electric dipole moments. 2,5-Disubstituted 1,3-dioxane is commonly employed as a polar motif in said systems, and herein it is shown to suffer from thermal instability as a consequence of equatorial-trans to axial-trans isomerism at elevated temperatures. Isosteric building blocks are utilized as potential replacements for the 1,3-dioxane unit, and in doing so new examples of fluid ferroelectric systems are obtained. For binary mixtures of certain composition, the emergence of a new fluid antiferroelectric phase, a finding not observed for either of the parent molecules, is observed. This study also reveals a critical tipping point for the emergence of polar order in otherwise a polar systems. These results hint at the possibility for uncovering new highly ordered polar liquid-crystalline phases and delineate distinct transition mechanisms in orientational and polar ordering.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Small Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Ferroelectrics, liquid crystals, soft matter, polar order |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number MRC (Medical Research Council) MR/W006391/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 02 Jul 2024 12:04 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jul 2024 04:37 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Wiley-VCH |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/smsc.202400189 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214275 |