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ABSTRACT
Indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates are chemically modified with bent-shaped molecules and influence of these surface immobilised molecules on the alignment of bulk liquid crystal (LC) samples has been investigated. Bent-core (BC) compounds containing a dimethylchlorosilane moiety at the end of a terminal alkyl chain and a lateral alkyl chain are successfully attached to transparent conducting ITO substrates in an end-on (ITO-BC-t) and side-on (ITO-BC-l) oriented fashion to create stable permanent self-assembled BC layers on the substrates. Surface functionalization is thoroughly characterised and aligning ability of these BC-modified ITO substrates for orientation of bulk LC sample is evaluated for nematic phase of both rod-like and BCLC samples. The BC-modified substrates are effective in aligning the rod-like compounds in vertical (ITO-BC-t), planar orientations (ITO-BC-l) and the BC compounds in homeotropic (ITO-BC-t) alignment.
Graphical abstract
Acknowledgments
S.U. acknowledges the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (Grant No.ECR/2015/000419) for funding through Early Career Research award. B.S. thanks SERB, New Delhi, for the financial support. The authors also thank MHRD-RUSA 2.0, Department of Education, New Delhi (Letter no. F.24/51, 2014-U) and Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi (no. SR/PURSE Phase 2/38(G), dt 29.12.2020) for the funding.CECRI Manuscript Communication Number: CECRI/PESVC/Pubs./2020-042
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Supplementary material
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