An anchoring transition at surfaces with grafted liquid-crystalline chain molecules

Details An anchoring transition at surfaces with grafted liquid-crystalline chain molecules An anchoring transition at surfaces with grafted liquid-crystalline chain molecules

2002-03-25

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0203490v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

Materials Science

To appear in European Physical Journal E

Scientific paper

10.1140/epje/i200101098

The anchoring of nematic liquid crystals on surfaces with grafted liquid crystalline chain molecules is studied by computer simulations and within a mean field approach. The computer simulations show that a swollen layer of collectively tilted chains may induce untilted homeotropic (perpendicular) alignment in the nematic fluid. The results can be understood within a simple theoretical model. The anchoring on a layer of mutually attractive chains is determined by the structure of the interface between the layer of chain molecules and the solvent. It is controlled by an interplay between the attractive chain interactions, the translational entropy of the solvent and its elasticity. A second order anchoring transition driven by the grafting density from tilted to homeotropic alignment is predicted.

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