Calamitic Liquid‐Crystalline Elastomers Swollen in Bent‐Core Liquid‐Crystal Solvents

Abstract

The swelling of calamitic liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) with bent‐core mesogens is investigated in the isotropic phase of both materials. The swelling magnitude and dynamics are determined and fitted with a dual exponential. The host LCEs imbibe bent‐core molecules up to 30– 40 mol%. The swollen elastomers exhibit nematic phases, with some possessing a lower temperature smectic phase.

A new era for liquid crystal research: Applications of liquid crystals in soft matter nano-, bio- and microtechnology

“…The idea was proposed in 2009 by Antal Jakli and co-workers at Kent State University, USA [28,30,31]. The principle is illustrated in Fig.…”

Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Light

“…This coupling indicates that changes in the order parameter will affect the strain, and conversely, that changes in shape will affect the orientational order. Specifically (13) and (11) show that the effect of the order parameter on strain is the same as that of an external stress s ab , and (13) and (4) show that the effect of strain on the orientational order is the same as that of an applied external field E a E b . This means that applying a uniaxial strain to a nematic LCE with g > 0 will tend to increase orientational order and align the director along the strain direction, while changes in orientational order give rise to strain deformations.…”

“…Ye ab e ba À e ab s ab (11) When the system is in equilibrium, minimizing the elastic free energy gives the strain e.…”

“…The response can be readily understood in terms of the simple model described in the Introduction. LCEs have been swollen with both isotropic and anisotropic solvents [8,10,11]. Isotropic solvents reduce the number density of mesogens and, hence, the critical temperature T c ¼ rU=5k.…”

Equimolecular Mixture of Calamitic and Bent-Core Thiobenzoates

“…[3,4]), and especially in the mixtures of bent-core and calamitic liquid crystals, in which an equimolecular binary mixture are the important object of the investigations (e.g. [5][6][7][8]). …”