Anisotropic molecular hopping at the solid-nematic interface

Soft Matter. 2015 Oct 21;11(39):7712-6. doi: 10.1039/c5sm01251a. Epub 2015 Aug 27.

Abstract

Single molecule tracking was used to observe intermittent and anisotropic molecular motion at the solid-nematic interface. Although the interfacial diffusion was dramatically slower than self-diffusion in the nematic, the diffusion anisotropy was the same at the interface and in bulk, supporting the desorption-mediated mechanism of interfacial diffusion, where molecules sample the physical properties of the vicinal fluid phase during flights, and the magnitude of the interfacial diffusion coefficient is primarily determined by the distribution of waiting times between flights.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biphenyl Compounds / chemistry
  • Diffusion
  • Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching
  • Liquid Crystals / chemistry*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Nitriles / chemistry

Substances

  • Biphenyl Compounds
  • Nitriles
  • 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl