Influence of TiO(2) Nanoparticles on Liquid Crystalline, Structural and Electrochemical Properties of (8Z)-N-(4-((Z)-(4-pentylphenylimino)methyl)benzylidene)-4-pentylbenzenamine

Organic–inorganic hybrids based on liquid crystalline symmetrical imine (8Z)-N-(4-((Z)-(4-pentylphenylimino)methyl)benzylidene)-4-pentylbenzenamine (AZJ1) with two aliphatic chains and TiO(2) nanomaterials were obtained and investigated taking into account thr crystallographic form of titanium dioxide i.e., anatase versus rutile. The type of TiO(2) influences the mesomorphic properties of imine AZJ1, as observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarizing optical microscopy (POM) techniques. Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to investigate the interactions of oxygen vacancies located on the TiO(2) surface with the studied AZJ1 imine together with studying the influence of temperature. Both imine:TiO(2) anatase versus rutile hybrids possessed the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels of about −5.39 eV (AZJ1:anatase) and −5.33 eV (AZJ1:rutile) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels of about −2.24 eV. The presence of TiO(2) in each hybrid did not strongly affect the redox properties of imine AZJ1. Organic devices with the configuration of ITO/TiO(2)/AZJ1 (or AZJ1:TiO(2) anatase versus rutile)/Au were fabricated and investigated in the presence and absence of visible light irradiation with a light intensity of 93 mW/cm(2). Finally, to analyze defects in the constructed organic devices we used thermal imaging and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The addition of TiO(2) in both crystallographic forms has a positive influence on layer-forming properties that manifests itself as a very homogenous heat distribution for the whole sample.