Development of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals without dioxane structure

Abstract

We reported that a fluorine-based liquid crystal compound having a 1,3-dioxane skeleton (CnDIO) showed an extremely large dielectric anisotropy of 10,000 or more in the ferroelectric nematic phase (NF phase). However, CnDIOs are thermally unstable above 100ºC and the temperature range in which CnDIOs exhibit the NF phase is higher than room temperature. Therefore, it is desirable to design thermally stable CnDIOs showing the NF phase at lower temperatures. In this study, we newly synthesized CnDIO analogues without 1,3-dioxanyl structures and investigated their ferroelectric liquid crystal properties. Consequently, we succeeded in extending the temperature range of the ferroelectric liquid crystal phases to the lower temperature by mixing these analogues.