Surf Wiki
Save to docs
general/solar-energy

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Discotic liquid crystal

Discotic liquid crystals are mesophases formed from disc-shaped molecules known as "discotic mesogens". These phases are often also referred to as columnar phases. Discotic mesogens are typically composed of an aromatic core surrounded by flexible alkyl chains. The aromatic cores allow charge transfer in the stacking direction through the π conjugate systems. The charge transfer allows the discotic liquid crystals to be electrically semiconductive along the stacking direction.Cladis, P.E., Ratna, B.R., Shashidhar, R, S. Chandrasekhar (1930–2004): Discotic Liquid Crystals,

https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200460918 Applications have been focusing on using these systems in photovoltaic devices, organic light emitting diodes (OLED), and molecular wires. Discotics have also been suggested for use in compensation films, for LCD displays. Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekhar who first discovered these systems, did lots of important work on liquid crystals, and founded the International Liquid Crystal Society. He was Sir C V Raman's nephew, and brother of Pancharatnam of the geometric phase fame, and cousin of Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar.

Photovoltaic devices

Discotic liquid crystals have similar potential to the conducting polymers for their use in photovoltaic cells, they have the same technical challenges of low conductivity and sensitivity to UV damage as the polymer designs. However one advantage is the self-healing properties of the discotic mesogens. So far the photovoltaic applications have been limited, using a perylene and hexabenzocoronene mesogens in a simple two layer systems has only resulted in ~2% power efficiency.

Organic light emitting diodes

So far the study into discotic liquid crystals for light emitting diodes are still in its infancy, but there have been some examples produced; a triphenylene and perylene-mesogen combination can be used to make a red LED. The self-assembly properties make them more desirable for manufacturing purposes when producing commercial electronics, than the currently used small molecule crystals in Sony’s new OLED displays. Also they have the added benefit of the self-healing properties that both the small molecule and the polymers lack as conductors, potentially being beneficial for longevity OLED products.

References

References

  1. (2002). "Efficient organic photovoltaics from soluble discotic liquid crystalline materials". Elsevier BV.
  2. (2001-05-15). "Red organic light emitting device made from triphenylene hexaester and perylene tetraester". AIP Publishing.
  3. (2005). "Liquid Crystalline Nanowires in Porous Alumina: Geometric Confinement versus Influence of Pore Walls". American Chemical Society (ACS).
  4. Kreouzis, T.; Donovan, K. J.; Boden, N.; Bushby, R. J.; Lozman, O. R.; Liu, Q. The Journal of [[Chemical physics. Chemical Physics]] 2001, 114, 1797-1802.
  5. "Sony's 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio 27-inch OLED HDTV". Engadget.com.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

solar-energy liquid-crystals
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Discotic liquid crystal — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report