Phys.org December 6, 2021
In some liquid crystals the molecules self-assemble into helical structures which are characterized by pitch. Pitch determines how quickly they react to an applied electric field. An international team of researchers (Germany, Czech Republic, Russia) investigated a liquid crystalline cholesteric compound called EZL10/10 which had only one chiral center and it was only104 nanometres. Further analysis showed that in this material the cholesteric spirals form domains with characteristic lengths of about five pitches. According to the researchers the short pitch makes the material unique and promising for optoelectronic devices with very fast switching times, and the EZ110/10 compound is thermally and chemically stable and can be easily varied to obtain structures with customized pitch lengths…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
The schematic representation of EZL10/10 molecule: the 3D model and the structural formula. Credit: Soft Matter, 2021, Advance ArticleÂ