Polymer Dispersed Discotics: Structure, Dynamics, and Optoelectronic Properties

Abstract

Discotic liquid crystalline materials characterized by the spontaneous formation of columns within the fluid phase display a set of interesting optoelectronic properties directly related to the state of order. The dispersion of such columnar discotics in solid polymer matrices results in geometric confinement effects controlling both the structure of the mesophase and dynamical properties related to transport properties. The confinement causes a reduction of the longitudinal and the transverse spatial correlation lengths which, in turn, gives rise to strong modifications of the absorption and emission properties as well as electronic transport processes.