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ABSTRACT
We present a mean field theory to describe twist-bend nematic () phases in binary mixtures of banana shaped, such as bent-core or dimer, liquid crystalline (LC) molecules with
, where
is a twist and
is a bend elastic constant. We introduce the free energy for the mixtures by taking into account the director-pitch (DP) coupling
of the consisting LC molecules
) and calculate the phase diagrams on the temperature-concentration plane. Our theory demonstrates that the isotropic (I), or para-nematic (
), nematic (
), and
phases appear, depending on the strength of the DP coupling parameter
and predicts various phase transitions: the first-order
and
transitions, and the second-order
transition, etc., on the temperature-concentration plane. Our theory has a good agreement with the experimental phase diagrams of the mixtures.
Graphical Abstract
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.