Do small molecules assemble at topological defects of a liquid crystal?

Jun-ichi Fukuda

doi:10.1117/12.2256541

15 February 2017 Do small molecules assemble at topological defects of a liquid crystal?

Jun-ichi Fukuda

Proceedings Volume 10125, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XII; 101250C (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2256541
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2017, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

It is well known that topological defects of a liquid crystal can trap colloidal particles and polymers. However, it remains unclear whether low-molecular-weight (LMW) non-LC molecules can aggregate at topological defects, because entropy towards uniform distributions becomes more dominant for smaller molecules. We show by a simple theoretical argument that topological defects indeed give rise to non-uniform distributions of such LMW guest molecules. The relaxation of the high free energy density of topological defects by the presence of LMW guest molecules is strong enough to overcome the contribution of entropy. We briefly discuss the relevance of our theoretical arguments to experiments.

Citation Download Citation

Jun-ichi Fukuda "Do small molecules assemble at topological defects of a liquid crystal?", Proc. SPIE 10125, Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XII, 101250C (15 February 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2256541

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