Effect of ferroelectric BaTiO₃ particles on the threshold voltage of a smectic A liquid crystal

• Abbas R. Imamaliyev,
• Mahammadali A. Ramazanov and
• Shirkhan A. Humbatov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 824–828, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.76

• -decyloxybenzoate and 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl with a molar ratio of 1:1. The mixture is in the smectic A phase in the temperature range of 32.5–47.0 °C and has positive dielectric anisotropy. BaTiO3 is a ferroelectric material with high spontaneous polarization (0.26 C·m−2 at room temperature) [16][17]. In our

• smectic A LC was carried out according to the following procedure: After weighing (balance ADAM PW-124), particles were added to the LC, then the mixture was shaken for 40 min in Ultrasonic Cleaner (NATO CD-4800) at 75 °C (isotropic phase) with subsequent cooling to 35 °C (smectic A phase). The transition

• to the smectic A phase at 47 °C prevents the aggregation of particles. The electro-optical and dielectric properties of the LC were measured in an electro-optical cell at 36 °C. The electro-optical cell with layered sandwiched structure consists of two parallel glass plates separated by a 15 μm

Periodic structures on liquid-phase smectic A, nematic and isotropic free surfaces

• Anna N. Bagdinova,
• Evgeny I. Demikhov,
• Nataliya G. Borisenko,
• Sergei M. Tolokonnikov,
• Gennadii V. Mishakov and
• Andrei V. Sharkov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 342–352, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.34

• ; liquid crystals; microscopy; smectic A phase; Introduction The considerable interest in studies of liquid crystalline free boundaries that has recently arisen is due to their intrinsic free surface properties which are not influenced by the substrate anchoring [1][2]. This is very important for many

• ordering [2][21][22][23][24], the surface remains smooth and we observe only director orientation variation. Conclusion A complex study of the liquid crystal 8CB free surface in the smectic A phase was carried out. The structures of the free surface are studied using four techniques: Polarized microscopy

Liquid-crystalline nanoarchitectures for tissue engineering

• Baeckkyoung Sung and
• Min-Ho Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 205–215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.22

• smectic-A phase can be obtained from concentrated DNA solutions [34]. In the smectic-A phase, translational symmetry is broken along the director of the nematic phase, so that the rods that form a multilayer organization are oriented perpendicular or oblique to the layers, and are in a liquid-like order

• dominates the system with unidirectionality. Note that, in DNA dispersions, the smectic-A phase appears only under special conditions and the smectic-B phase has not been found. Architectures of liquid crystalline scaffolds and their interactions with adherent cells. Each rod represents a constituent

Nanoprofilometry study of focal conic domain structures in a liquid crystalline free surface

• Anna N. Bagdinova,
• Evgeny I. Demikhov,
• Nataliya G. Borisenko and
• Sergei M. Tolokonnikov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2544–2551, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.254

• ; nanoprofilometer; smectic-A phase; Introduction The free surface of liquid crystals has been a subject of great interest since the beginning of liquid crystal science. Liquid crystalline free boundary research is very important because it shows that the intrinsic free surface properties are not influenced by the

• crystals. In this work, we studied structures in samples with one free surface. The second boundary was covered by some orienting material with strong boundary conditions. In this case, focal conic domain structures can occur in smectic-A phase [4][5][6][7][8]. Here, the smectic sample would have a

• and a decrease in the intensity of the back reflection of light. This is the reason that a stable interference pattern could not be established. Figure 3 demonstrates a 8CB smectic-A phase surface at 28 °С on the glass substrate. Before use, the quartz glass substrate was cleaned with an alcohol