Ferroelectric State Induced In Mixture Of Dimer Liquid Crystal And Perfluorooctanoic Acid

Phase transitions and electro-optical effects are studied in a nanocomposites, grown by mixing heptyloxybenzoic acid (7OBA), displaying hydrogen bonded dimeric liquid crystal (LC) state, with perfluorooctanoic acid. Due to the interaction with the dopant structural units the dimer rings of the LC matrix bent. As a result, transitions from achiral to chiral states, including ferroelectric smectic C-G with the lowest C-1 symmetry take place.