Weak surface anchoring energy of 4-cyano-4'-pentyl-1,1'-biphenyl on perfluoropolyether Langmuir-Blodgett films.
Functional director alignment layers are needed for high performance liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Reported herein is a novel polymer material for LC alignment, namely, perfluoropolyether (PFPE), which exhibits a weak surface anchoring energy for bend deformation and is amenable to simple fabrication of grooved surfaces by soft lithography, a surface topography desired for multistable LCDs. Liquid crystal optical cells fabricated using Langmuir-Blodgett films of PFPE (of variable thickness) exhibited weak surface anchoring energies on the order of 10(-5) Jm2 for the nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-pentyl-1,1'-biphenyl with no dependence on film thickness.
Russell-Tanner
Joette M
JM
Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, CB 3290 Venable Hall, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.
Takayama
Sadao
S
Sugimura
Akihiko
A
DeSimone
Joseph M
JM
Samulski
Edward T
ET