Molecular Orientation of Discotic Molecules Controlled Using Self-Assembled Monolayer Films

摘要

The effect of self-assembled monolayers on the molecular stack of discotic liquid crystals has been studied. The selfassembled monolayers, which consist of functional groups on the terminal of the silane molecules, were formed by attaching themselves on a solid surface, and the surface energies of substrates were found to be varied greatly. On the substrates modified by the 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, which possess higher surface free energy, discotic molecules tend to assemble with disk-face-on anchoring; whereas discotic molecules tend to assemble with disk-edge-on anchoring when stacking on the substrate surface modified by the octadecyltrichlorosilane, which possess lower surface free energy. The initial observation also revealed the capability to imprint specific patterns of discotic molecular orientation on the substrate surfaces via silane modifications.