Nematic liquid crystals (NLC) are a ubiquitous component in many commercial display products. Because of their electro-optical properties, the manipulation of electric fields by thin film transistors in display screens causes molecular level changes to the orientation of NLCs, which in turn affects the brightness of the display. Another method of inducing liquid crystal orientation is achieved through changes to the chemical or material properties of the substrate. In our work, we focus on NLC orientation on zinc selenide (ZnSe), an IR-transparent, crystalline substrate; we use ZnSe to build electro-optical cells for spectroscopic investigation of the surface interactions of NLCs with functionalized surfaces. Surface morphology and chemical preparation promote preferential liquid crystal ordering on ZnSe and planar and homeotropic liquid crystal alignments arise from distinct chemical or physical surface preparations. Our current study investigates the potential for promoting NLC alignment via thiolate SAMs adsorbed to the ZnSe. The results from this project detail the development of an improved photolithographic technique for patterning gold interdigitated array (IDA) electrodes on ZnSe and the construction of a thiolate-anchored bilayer cell for the exploration of the anchoring effects of thiolate SAMs on the orientation and electric field induced reorganization of a 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystalline thin film.

Electro-optical properties of nematic liquid crystal orientation on long-chain alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers absorbed on zinc selenide

247th National Meeting (2014)

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