Abstract
The control and prediction of soft systems exhibiting self-organization behavior can be realized by different means but still remains a highlighted task. Novel advanced nanocomposite system has been designed by filling of a stretched porous polyethylene (PE) film with pore dimensions of hundreds of nanometers by chiral ferroelectric liquid crystalline (LC) compound possessing polar self-assembling behavior. Lactic acid derivative exhibiting the paraelectric orthogonal smectic A* and the ferroelectric tilted smectic C* phases over a broad temperature range is used as a self-assembling compound. The morphology of nanocomposite film has been checked by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The designed nanocomposite has been studied by polarizing optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), small and wide-angle X-ray scattering and broadband dielectric spectroscopy. The effect of a porous PE confinement on self-assembling, structural, and dielectric behavior of the chiral LC compound has been established and discussed. While the mesomorphic and structural properties of the nanocomposite are found not to be much influenced in comparison to that of a pure LC compound, the polar properties have been toughly suppressed by the specific confinement. Nevertheless, the electro-optic switching was clearly observed under applied electric field of low frequency (210 V, 19 Hz). The dielectric spectroscopy and X-ray results reveal that the helical structure of the ferroelectric liquid crystal inside the PE matrix is completely unwound, and the molecules are aligned along stretching direction. Obtained results demonstrate possibilities of using stretched porous polyolefins as promising matrices for the design of new nanocomposites.
Highlights
Functional composite nanomaterials are widely spread in our everyday life
This section contains the experimental results obtained on PE-ferroelectric liquid crystalline (FLC) nanocomposite obtained by polarizing optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), electro-optics, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), and broadband dielectric spectroscopy
The mesomorphic behavior of pure FLC compounds and resulting PE-FLC nanocomposite was studied by the texture observations in POM; the phase transition temperatures were precisely verified by the DSC
Summary
Functional composite nanomaterials are widely spread in our everyday life. During the last few years, various composite materials attract substantial attention due to their advanced properties [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] that are usually inaccessible for the single component substances. For the last few decades, self-assembling materials represent a fascinating area of dynamic research, which provides a highlighted approach for design of new structures with predefined functionality [7,10,11,12,13]. Chiral smectic liquid crystalline (LC) materials belong to one of the most exciting classes of such organic materials that are able to self-assemble in a polar layered structure of nanometer scale [11,13,14,15,16,17,18]. The self-organization structure of such compounds, and their favorable electro-optic, structural, and dielectric properties, can be adjusted by a proper design of molecular architecture build up from various units [15,19,20,21,22,23,24]. LC compounds with chiral part based on lactate group are actively used as: (i) chiral dopants while designing binary [27,28,29] and multicomponent functional mixtures [30,31]; (ii) reactive mesogens for macromolecular compounds used as side-chains for polymers [32,33,34] and elastomers [35,36]; (iii) functional dopants for organic photovoltaic cells [37,38,39] and matrices [40,41,42] for design of nanocomposite systems; and (iv) source of chirality for photosensitive low molar mass [21,43,44,45] and macromolecular [20,34,46,47,48] materials
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
