Weak anchoring of liquid crystals on solid substrates is usually dominated by the surface memory. We show that the memory can be removed by surface passivation by silane molecules. We realize planar, azimuthally degenerated, and memory-free anchorings without pretilt.
In water‐based lyotropic liquid crystals (LCs), e.g., aqueous suspensions of V2O5, the electrooptical effects typical of thermotropic mesophases are difficult to observe, owing to the large conductivity and electrochemical reactions of the suspensions. Overcoming these difficulties, the authors demonstrate that V2O5 aqueous nematic suspensions can be aligned and even reoriented in a low AC electric field—in addition to the recently reported slow (30 min) alignment in magnetic fields. The response time of ∼1 s indicates that mineral LCs may be suitable for simple display applications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.