How foam-like is the shear-induced lamellar phase of an ionic liquid crystal?
By: Paulo Teixeira
From: ISEL and CFTC
At: Complexo Interdisciplinar, Anfiteatro
[2009-01-14]
In a recent paper [M. H. Godinho et al., Liq. Cryst. 35, 103 (2008)] we reported that sheared films of two n-alkylimidazolium salts exhibit liquid crystalline behaviour below their bulk equilibrium freezing temperature. The resulting morphologies are strongly reminiscent of two-dimensional liquid foams: the materials partition into dark domains (cells) separated by brighter (birefringent) walls, which are approximately arcs of circle and meet at vertices (