News

Overview

　Liquid Crystals (LCs) are generated from amphiphilic molecules, and are known as the fourth state of matter, in which the material combines the fluidity of liquids with the anisotropy of crystalline solids. The fluidity of this intermediate phase between a liquid and a crystalline state (mesophase) guarantees the response to external forces, among others mechanical forces, magnetic and electric fields and light. This led to the development of the first well-known application of LCs – the flat panel displays (Liquid Crystal Displays, LCDs) in Laptops or TVs.
　Liquid crystal molecules, the mesogens, are often designed with rather flexible scaffolds which adapt their conformations to form the thermodynamically most stable structure. This is one reason that the prediction of the LC structure is not straight forward. However, when the mesogen should exert a defined function the complete control over the structure formation and its alignment is needed. This talk will show evidence that a structural control can be guaranteed with shape-persistent scaffolds. It will outline the design of shape-persistent star molecules for multifunctional donor-acceptor structures in order to find ideal photovoltaic materials. Such LC molecules provide intrinsic free space for hosting guest molecules, which add different functionalities to the materials.

Contact

Assoc. Prof. Hiroaki Iino（Sensing and Processing Research Core）