Nanoscale Engineering of Dyes for Liquid Crystal Device Applications

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.

The primary aim of this project is to design and synthesise novel dichroic dyes for applications in a variety of liquid crystal and optical devices. The design will be informed by computer modelling, including density functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, which will ultimately drive the synthesis of target materials, i.e. this programme is effectively one of nanoengineering of soft matter.

The project will involve a large amount of fundamental research, which will be of short to medium-term benefit to those working in fields associated with the project, such as directed self-assembly and controlled self-organization, i.e. beyond the molecule; physical, synthetic and materials chemistry; molecular simulations and rational design; and photonics, electrooptics and device engineering. In addition to the broader impact to the research community, a medium-term impact of the project will occur when materials that have been prepared become available for further studies by academics and industrialists working in the physics and engineering of condensed phases of matter for a variety of electrooptic devices, and potentially for other areas such as e-inks, printing inks and materials for biosensors etc.

The associated medium to longer-term aims of producing functional materials, with high figures of merit for materials properties, are expected to have a direct impact in industry, particularly for companies involved in, or requiring, rational design of materials for optical devices. Thus, this work will represent a significant breakthrough particularly for the electronic, chemical, and organic semi-conductor industries. We expect our results to attract significant interest from a wide range of companies, both in the UK and Europe, and more widely in the countries of the Far East.

The development of a new "dyes platform" for electrooptics would allow these industries to provide more efficient, more reliable, more varied, and better and perhaps cheaper products, giving them a competitive economic advantage. By joining together and pooling knowledge and resources, truly world-class research will be possible, putting the UK at the forefront of this area and with links to leading UK and global companies.

The longer term benefits to society arising from this research are expected to be varied, and will occur through novel devices or functional materials that are developed and exploited in every-day applications such as e-readers, e-inks, supermarket shelving, outdoor information displays, and bistable devices which do not require a continuously applied electric field to display information, etc, and in not so commonly visible but important applications involving security devices.