title: Investigation of the liquid crystal alignment layer: effect on electrical properties.
abstract: We investigate the electrical behavior of a symmetric liquid crystal (LC) cell: elecrode-silane-LC-silane-electrode. The silane (chlorodimethyloctadecyl-silane) layer induces a homeotropic orientation of the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) molecules. The wettability technique is used to detect the change of the surface energy of the electrode upon cleaning and silane layer deposition. We report on the dynamic impedance measurements of the nematic liquid crystal cell. It is found that the silane alignment layer has a blocking effect on the liquid crystal (LC) cell. We also study the relaxation behavior of the cell which is later assimilated as an electrical equivalent circuit.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de la matière molle, Faculté des sciences, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Asma
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abderrahmen
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de la matière molle, Faculté des sciences, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Fayda Fekih
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Romdhane
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de physique et chimie des interfaces, Faculté des sciences, 5000 Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hafedh Ben
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Ouada
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de la matière molle, Faculté des sciences, Tunis, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Abdelhafidh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gharbi
keywords: electrical equivalent circuit; impedance measurement; liquid crystal; relaxation processes