Liquid crystals (LCs) are unique functional soft materials which simultaneously exhibit both order and mobility at molecular and macroscopic levels. The most successful commercial applications of LCs are in LC display (LCD) devices, where uniaxial rod-like nematic LCs are the active components while their uniaxial discotic nematic counterparts are employed in optical compensation films to widen the viewing angle and increase the contrast ratio of current LCDs. The biaxial nematic phase has been rather elusive, nevertheless it has been envisaged that the use of a biaxial nematic phase could result in LCDs with faster refresh rates and dramatically lower power consumption thereby facilitating the next generation of LCDs with enhanced switching performance. Moreover, it is of great scientific significance in soft matter physics. In this talk, I will present our effort to induce biaxiality using hybrid rod-like and bent-core molecular architecture.1Supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, DOE grant DE-SC0001412

Molecular design and synthesis of hybrid rod-like and bent-core liquid crystal dimers to induce biaxiality<sup>
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246th National Meeting (2013)

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