Nematic Liquid Crystal on a Two Dimensional Hexagonal Lattice and its Application

We have studied the alignment of liquid crystal adsorbed onto graphene and hexagonal boron nitride by using a polarized optical microscope. From the experimental data, it was found that there were 6 different alignment orientations of the liquid crystal molecules on a single crystal substrate. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2015-08, Vol.5 (1), p.13331-13331, Article 13331
Main Authors: Arslan Shehzad, Muhammad, Hoang Tien, Dung, Waqas Iqbal, M, Eom, Jonghwa, Park, J. H., Hwang, Chanyong, Seo, Yongho
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/624/400/1021
639/766/119/544
Boron
Chemical vapor deposition
Data processing
Glass substrates
Graphene
Graphite
Humanities and Social Sciences
Motion picture directors & producers
multidisciplinary
Phase transitions
Science
Single crystals
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Summary:We have studied the alignment of liquid crystal adsorbed onto graphene and hexagonal boron nitride by using a polarized optical microscope. From the experimental data, it was found that there were 6 different alignment orientations of the liquid crystal molecules on a single crystal substrate. This result has never been reported and is quite different from other previous results. As the hexagonal lattice has a threefold rotational symmetry, three different alignment orientations were expected, but our result seems counter-intuitive. We explain this result considering the bending of the tail of the liquid crystal molecules. Using this anchoring effect with six accurate discrete angles, a novel non-volatile display can be developed with micron-scale pixel size, due to the molecular level accuracy of the alignment.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep13331