Phase separation of the liquid crystal in the cholesterin phase

Abstract

In the ethyl-cyanoethyl cellulose [(E-CE)C]/acrylic acid [AA]/4-cyano-4'-n-heptyl biphenyl (TCB) solutions, 7CB acted as a diluting reagent when it was added into the (E-CE)C/AA cholesteric liquid crystalline solutions. The dispersed phase with 250–300nm in size appeared after the AA in the isotropic (E-CE)C/AA/7CB solutions with the 7CB concentration (C_7CB) between 27.4 – 41.2wt% was polymerized at 24°C. There was the dispersed phase rich with 7CB in the (E-CE)C/AA/7CB cholesteric liquid crystalline solutions when C_7CB was 43.0wt% at 24°C. The temperature at which the anisotropic phase in the dispersed phase transformed to the isotropic phase in the solutions was increased after the polymerization of the AA, but the transition temperature of the dispersed phase in both the solutions and the films was lower than that of the pure 7CB.