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.

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

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 28, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Dec 14, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• 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
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sm01961c
• Keywords: Dimers
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/382547
• 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.