The Role of Surface Bonding on Liquid Crystal Orientational Ordering at Metal Surfaces

Abstract

The alignment of a nematic liquid crystal, 4'-n-pentyl-4- cyanobiphenyl (5CB), on several smooth metal (chromium, copper, silver, and gold) surfaces was observed experimentally. Perpendicular (homeotropic) induced alignment was observed for copper and copper boundary layers, whereas parallel alignment was observed for chromium and copper. These differences are discussed in relation to the differences in chemical bonding interactions at the surfaces as described by theoretical calculations performed for the cases of copper, chromium, and gold. Several differences in orbital interactions, as well as a sensitivity to bonding configurations, are illustrated with the aid of extended Huckel calculations on hypothetical organometallic complexes and extended Huckel/tight binding calculations of the interface for parallel versus perpendicular absorbate orientations.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA198808

Entities

People

  • D. B. Dove
  • H. L. Ong
  • P. N. Sanda
  • Ryan Hoffmann
  • S. A. Jansen

Organizations

  • Cornell University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Band Structures
  • Boundary Layer
  • Chemistry
  • Classification
  • Computational Science
  • Crystals
  • Energy Bands
  • Energy Levels
  • Layers
  • Liquid Crystals
  • New York
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Parallel Orientation
  • Security
  • Two Dimensional
  • United States
  • Universities

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Quantum Chemistry

Technology Areas

  • Space