2024/03/04 by Mateusz Mrukiewicz, Michał Czerwiński, Mrukiewicz, Mateusz +11
Computer Science · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Theoretical and Computational Physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.02068
openalex publication_date 2024/03/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The recent discovery of a new ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystalline phase became of utmost interest for the liquid crystal (LC) and the whole soft and condensed matter fields. Contrary to the previously known ferroelectric LC materials, whose ferroelectric characteristics were much weaker, new polar nematics exhibit properties comparable to solid ferroelectrics. This discovery brought about tremendous efforts to further explore compounds showing these phases, and fascinating physical properties have been reported. Herein, we present the first synthesized compounds with the enantiotropic ferro- (NF) and antiferroelectric (NX) nematic phases. The enantiotropic nature and an unprecedentedly broad temperature range of NF and NX phases are confirmed by various experimental techniques: polarized-light optical microscopy (POM) observations, different scanning calorimetry (DSC), dielectric spectroscopy, second harmonic generation (SHG), and molecular modeling. The presented achievements in designing achiral compounds that exhibit enantiotropic polar nematic phases with ferro- and antiferroelectric properties significantly contribute to the development of multicomponent mixtures with a broad temperature range of NF and NX phases down to room temperature. Furthermore, this accomplishment considerably enhances the general understanding of the structural correlations that promote polar nematic liquid crystal phases with high thermodynamic stability. Finally, this work may benefit various applications in photonic devices.