Hobbs, J. orcid.org/0009-0009-5331-1615, Gibb, C.J., Pociecha, D. et al. (3 more authors) (2024) Polar order in a fluid like ferroelectric with a tilted lamellar structure – observation of a polar smectic C (SmCP) phase. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 64 (4). e202416545. ISSN 1433-7851
Abstract
The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase structures and is thus far limited to orthogonal phase types. Here we report a family of materials which exhibit a previously unseen state of matter which we conclude is a polar smectic C phase, and so we term it SmCP. The spontaneous polarisation of the SmCP phase is over two orders of magnitude larger than that found in conventional ferroelectric SmC phase of chiral materials used in some LCD devices. Fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations faithfully and spontaneously reproduce the proposed structure and associated bulk properties; comparison of experimental and simulated X-ray scattering patterns shows excellent agreement. The materials disclosed here have significantly smaller dipole moments than typical polar liquid crystals such as RM734 which suggests the role of molecular electrical polarity in generating polar order is perhaps overstated, a view supported by consideration of other molecular systems.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Angewandte Chemie International Edition 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: | Materials science; Liquid Crystals; ferroelectric materials; smectic phases; X-ray scattering |
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: | 04 Nov 2024 17:03 |
Last Modified: | 10 Feb 2025 17:14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/anie.202416545 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:219131 |