Novel biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers

We present a mean field theory to describe biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers, in which rigid side-chains (mesogens) and rigid-backbone chains favor mutually perpendicular orientations. Taking into account both excluded volume and attractive interactions between rigid r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of chemical physics Vol. 137; no. 22; p. 224906
Main Author Matsuyama, Akihiko
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 14.12.2012
Subjects
Liquid Crystals - chemistry
Phase Transition
Polymers - chemistry
Temperature
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Summary:We present a mean field theory to describe biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers, in which rigid side-chains (mesogens) and rigid-backbone chains favor mutually perpendicular orientations. Taking into account both excluded volume and attractive interactions between rigid rods, novel biaxial nematic phases are theoretically predicted. We calculate uniaxial and biaxial orientational order parameters as a function of temperature and the length of backbone chains. We find a first-order biaxial-biaxial phase transition and a first (or second)-order uniaxial-biaxial one, depending on the length of mesogens and backbone chains.
ISSN:1089-7690
DOI:10.1063/1.4771592