Broadening of mesophase temperature range induced by doping calamitic mesogen with banana-shaped mesogen

Abstract

© 2016 AIP Publishing LLC. We have investigated three binary mixtures composed of selected banana-shaped dopant in low concentrations and calamitic mesogen in high. Banana-shaped dopant forms a B7 phase, while the calamitic mesogen exhibit nematic and smectic SmA and SmC phases. The occurring mesophases have been identified by their optical textures. At dopant concentrations of 2.2 and 3.1 mol%, there is evident broadening of nematic and smectic SmA temperature ranges in respect to the pure calamitic compound. Yet, the mixture with dopant concentration of 7 mol% exhibits narrower temperature ranges of mesophases. Increasing dopant concentration caused lowering of all phase transitions temperatures (TI-N, TN-SmA, TSmA-SmC) in all investigated mixtures. Therefore, mixing classic calamitic compounds with novel banana-shaped compound in low concentrations is viable way to attain useful mesophase range for application in industry.