The stabilisation of the Nx phase in mixtures

Ramou, E.; Ahmed, Z.; Welch, C.; Karahaliou, P. K.; Mehl, G. H.

Abstract

The phase behaviour of mixtures between two symmetric dimers, CBC9CB and the ether-linked analogue CBOC9OCB was investigated by Polarizing Optical Microscopy (POM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) studies. The dimeric constituents are fully miscible and the construction of a temperature-composition phase diagram reveals a surprising amplification of the stability of the Nx phase in compositions of up to 37 wt% of CBOC9OCB in CBC9CB. The origin for this enhancement of stability is discussed and an explanation based on chiral recognition is developed.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Journal: Soft matter
• Print ISSN: 1744-683X
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-6848
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 888-899
• APA6 Citation: Ramou, E., Ahmed, Z., Welch, C., Karahaliou, P. K., & Mehl, G. H. (2016). The stabilisation of the Nx phase in mixtures. Soft matter, 12(3), 888-899. doi:10.1039/c5sm01961c
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sm01961c
• Keywords: Dimers
• Publisher URL: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2016/SM/C5SM01961C#!divAbstract
• Copyright Statement: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence.
• Additional Information: This is an open access article published in Soft matter, 2016.