Nanoscale Engineering of Dyes for Liquid Crystal Device Applications

这项名为“用于液晶设备的染料的纳米工程”的项目将致力于一项大胆的科学计划，旨在对二向色性染料进行“合理设计和受控分子工程”，以创造适用于各种应用的新型功能软材料。该方案科学的具体成果将是通过合理的设计战略，包括计算机模拟方法，创造新的二色性染料，最终推动目标材料的合成，并将其并入液晶主体。这种设计方法将为冷凝流体中的自组织和自组装过程提供新的见解，预计这些过程将普遍适用于分子材料，并将引起化学家、物理学家、工程师和理论家的兴趣。特别是，这项工作还旨在创造新的材料，用于户外使用的新型光散射显示设备，如平板电脑，以及无需持续施加电场即可显示信息的双稳设备。我们打算研究的材料包括具有纳米分离结构的分子材料、二聚体和超分子染料。目标材料可以是液晶，或者可以被设计为添加到液晶基质中的掺杂剂。此外，对于更复杂的体系，如超分子，材料可能由介晶性和生色性实体组成。我们将使用各种生色团，如蒽醌、茂等，以提供具有一系列可调颜色的材料，这些材料将通过分子结构的纳米工程和染料混合物的设计而产生。

This project, entitled the "Nanoscale Engineering of Dyes for Liquid Crystal Device Applications", will tackle an adventurous scientific programme aimed at the "rational design and controlled molecular engineering" of dichroic dyes to create new classes of functional soft materials for a variety of applications. The specific outcome of the science of the programme will be the creation of new dichroic dyes by rational design strategies, including computer modelling approaches, that will ultimately drive the synthesis of target materials and their incorporation into liquid crystals hosts. The design methodology will provide new insights into self-organisation and self-assembly processes in condensed fluids, which are expected to be generally applicable to molecular materials, and will be of interest to chemists, physicists, engineers and theoreticians alike. In particular, it is also intended that the work will lead to the creation of new materials for applications in novel light scattering display devices for use outdoors, such as tablet computers, and in bistable devices, which can display information without the need for continuously applied electric fields.The materials we intend to investigate include molecular materials, dimers, and supermolecular dyes that have nanosegregated structures. The target materials may be liquid crystals or may be designed as dopants to add to liquid crystal matrices. In addition, for more complex systems, such as supermolecules, the materials may be composed of both mesomorphic and chromophoric entities. We will use a variety of chromophores, eg anthraquinone, perylene, etc to give materials with a range of tunable colours that will be created by the nanoscale engineering of molecular structures and by the design of dye mixtures.