The induction of the N_tb phase in mixtures

ABSTRACT

We report the induction of the N_tb phase over a wide temperature and concentration range in a binary system. This was achieved by addition of a flexible dopant without LC properties to a flexible dimer exhibiting only a nematic LC phase. The N_tb phase was identified by Polarising Optical Microscopy (POM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Twist-bend nematic
• liquid crystal dimers
• liquid crystal–non liquid crystal mixtures
• nematic–nematic transition

Acknowledgments

CW, ZA and JH acknowledge the EPSRC project EP/M015726/1, the EPSRC NMSF is acknowledged for high-resolution mass spectrometry. ER acknowledges EU funding through the Erasmus+ programme. GHM thanks Prof. Claudio Zannoni for the many fruitful discussions on the nature of nematic phases over the course of several joint EU-funded projects.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary materials

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the EPSRC [M015726/1] and EU [Erasmus+] programme.