2A01 Effect of Cylindrical Nanoconfinement on Phase Transitions of Bicontinuous Cubic Liquid Crystalline Compounds

Abstract

Phase structures and phase transition behaviors of cubic liquid crystalline compounds, 1,2-bis(4'-n-alkoxybenzoyl)hydrazine (BABH-n, where n is the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain) and 4'-n-alkoxy-3'-nitrobiphenyl-4-carboxylic acid (ANBC-n), confined in nanoporous glasses having cylindrical pores with different diameters (50, 100, 200, and 500 nm) were studied using DSC and synchrotron-radiated XRD. When the pore diameter was decreased, interestingly, melting point and clearing point reduced whereas the phase transition temperature from Im3m- to Ia3d-Cubic phases increased. We considered this is due to restricted thermal expansion of the liquid crystalline compounds in the nanopores.