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Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules
Bent-core mesogens (BCMs) are a class of thermotropic liquid crystals featuring several unconventional properties. However, the interpretation and technological exploitation of their unique behavior have been hampered by the difficulty of controlling their anchoring at surfaces. To tackle this issue...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9268441/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35808121 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12132285 |
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author | Adamo, Fabrizio Corrado Ciuchi, Federica De Santo, Maria Penelope Astolfi, Paola Warner, Isabelle Scharrer, Eric Pisani, Michela Vita, Francesco Francescangeli, Oriano |
author_facet | Adamo, Fabrizio Corrado Ciuchi, Federica De Santo, Maria Penelope Astolfi, Paola Warner, Isabelle Scharrer, Eric Pisani, Michela Vita, Francesco Francescangeli, Oriano |
author_sort | Adamo, Fabrizio Corrado |
collection | PubMed |
description | Bent-core mesogens (BCMs) are a class of thermotropic liquid crystals featuring several unconventional properties. However, the interpretation and technological exploitation of their unique behavior have been hampered by the difficulty of controlling their anchoring at surfaces. To tackle this issue, we report the nanoscale structural characterization of BCM films prepared using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. Even though BCMs are quite different from typical amphiphilic molecules, we demonstrate that stable molecular films form over water, which can then be transferred onto silicon substrates. The combination of Brewster angle microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray reflectivity measurements shows that the molecules, once transferred onto a solid substrate, form a bilayer structure with a bottom layer of flat molecules and an upper layer of upright molecules. These results suggest that Langmuir–Blodgett films of BCMs can provide a useful means to control the alignment of this class of liquid crystals. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9268441 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-92684412022-07-09 Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules Adamo, Fabrizio Corrado Ciuchi, Federica De Santo, Maria Penelope Astolfi, Paola Warner, Isabelle Scharrer, Eric Pisani, Michela Vita, Francesco Francescangeli, Oriano Nanomaterials (Basel) Article Bent-core mesogens (BCMs) are a class of thermotropic liquid crystals featuring several unconventional properties. However, the interpretation and technological exploitation of their unique behavior have been hampered by the difficulty of controlling their anchoring at surfaces. To tackle this issue, we report the nanoscale structural characterization of BCM films prepared using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. Even though BCMs are quite different from typical amphiphilic molecules, we demonstrate that stable molecular films form over water, which can then be transferred onto silicon substrates. The combination of Brewster angle microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X-ray reflectivity measurements shows that the molecules, once transferred onto a solid substrate, form a bilayer structure with a bottom layer of flat molecules and an upper layer of upright molecules. These results suggest that Langmuir–Blodgett films of BCMs can provide a useful means to control the alignment of this class of liquid crystals. MDPI 2022-07-02 /pmc/articles/PMC9268441/ /pubmed/35808121 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12132285 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Adamo, Fabrizio Corrado Ciuchi, Federica De Santo, Maria Penelope Astolfi, Paola Warner, Isabelle Scharrer, Eric Pisani, Michela Vita, Francesco Francescangeli, Oriano Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title | Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title_full | Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title_fullStr | Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title_full_unstemmed | Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title_short | Nanoscale Structure of Langmuir–Blodgett Film of Bent-Core Molecules |
title_sort | nanoscale structure of langmuir–blodgett film of bent-core molecules |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9268441/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35808121 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nano12132285 |
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