High-resolution calorimetric study on the phase transitions of aerosil-dispersed liquid crystal systems

Abstract

Study on liquid crystal molecules in the confined space has attracted attention due to their interesting physical properties arising from additional contribution from the surface. Particularly aerosil-dispersed liquid crystal systems have been widely investigated and earlier calorimetric studies showed that the dispersion of silica aerosil particles has a considerable effect on several liquid-crystal transitions. However, the mechanism of this effect is still not clear. In this study, we carried out high-resolution calorimetric measurements for aerosil-liquid crystal mixtures. The detailed calorimetric results will be reported.