continuous lamellar layers above and below the 2D crystals, as shown in Fig. 15
(middle). The random packing of 2D crystal-containing lamellar gives rise to the
formation of a new family of thermotropic supramolecular LCs. It should be noted
that the flexible spacer plays an important role to decouple the interactions between
the soft part and the rigid part. When the spacer is very short, no LC mesophase was
observed from 43, while those with long spacer (40–42) showed LC properties. This
design strategy should be applicable to other molecules and lead to an enlarged
family of 2D crystals and supramolecular liquid crystals. As fullerenes are part of the
LC mesogen, these supramolecular LCs have high fullerene content.
Properties of Fullerene LCs
The successful creation of fullerene-containing LCs opens avenues to the design of
new and unique mesomorphic functional materials. Such materials combine the
exceptional electrochemical and photophysical properties of fullerenes with those
of self-organizing and self-assembling media. The association of such properties
could be used in the evolution of solar cell technologies and in the development of
supramolecular redox and optical molecular switches based on photoinduced electron transfer, for example, between ferrocene and fullerene units.
Electrochemical Properties
Fullerene (C 60 ) is a unique electroactive material; it can reversibly accept up to six
electrons. Therefore, incorporation of C 60 into liquid crystals offers the possibility of
combining the efficient acceptor characteristics of C 60 with the anisotropy of liquid
crystals. Mixed fullerene-ferrocene liquid crystals are interesting materials from the
Fig. 15 Molecular structure of fullerene dyads 40–43 (left), illustration of the sandwiched 2D
crystals formed by the self-organization via π-π interaction and phase separation (middle), and the
supramolecular liquid crystals formed by the random stacking of 2D crystals (right). (Reprinted
with permission from (Zhang et al. 2015). Copyright (2015) John Wiley and Sons)
6 Fullerene Liquid Crystals
165
(middle). The random packing of 2D crystal-containing lamellar gives rise to the
formation of a new family of thermotropic supramolecular LCs. It should be noted
that the flexible spacer plays an important role to decouple the interactions between
the soft part and the rigid part. When the spacer is very short, no LC mesophase was
observed from 43, while those with long spacer (40–42) showed LC properties. This
design strategy should be applicable to other molecules and lead to an enlarged
family of 2D crystals and supramolecular liquid crystals. As fullerenes are part of the
LC mesogen, these supramolecular LCs have high fullerene content.
Properties of Fullerene LCs
The successful creation of fullerene-containing LCs opens avenues to the design of
new and unique mesomorphic functional materials. Such materials combine the
exceptional electrochemical and photophysical properties of fullerenes with those
of self-organizing and self-assembling media. The association of such properties
could be used in the evolution of solar cell technologies and in the development of
supramolecular redox and optical molecular switches based on photoinduced electron transfer, for example, between ferrocene and fullerene units.
Electrochemical Properties
Fullerene (C 60 ) is a unique electroactive material; it can reversibly accept up to six
electrons. Therefore, incorporation of C 60 into liquid crystals offers the possibility of
combining the efficient acceptor characteristics of C 60 with the anisotropy of liquid
crystals. Mixed fullerene-ferrocene liquid crystals are interesting materials from the
Fig. 15 Molecular structure of fullerene dyads 40–43 (left), illustration of the sandwiched 2D
crystals formed by the self-organization via π-π interaction and phase separation (middle), and the
supramolecular liquid crystals formed by the random stacking of 2D crystals (right). (Reprinted
with permission from (Zhang et al. 2015). Copyright (2015) John Wiley and Sons)
6 Fullerene Liquid Crystals
165