Theoretical work could be moved towards kinetics and nonequilibrium states. For
example, the alignment by annealing on the pretreated substrates is currently continued until the alignment is saturated and the saturated values are compared to the
theoretical prediction. Similarly, theoretically monitored experiments of lyotropic
systems are performed immediately after sample preparation. The theory of ageing
and phase instabilities remains incomplete.
So far the quantitative work is focused on materials bulk. Both theoretical and
experimental work should have stronger emphasis on thin films and multilayers
where the polymers are influenced by confinement effects and by interfaces of other
Lam
Iso
Nem
1/T
f
(a)
Obl
T
/
1
)
K
/
1
(
Lam
Lam
G
O
e
e
r
f
+
m
a
L
Iso
Iso
Iso + Nem
Iso + Nem micro+
Nem
Sq+Nem
(1)
(1) (2)
(3)
T (
o
C)
0.63 0.64
0.65
0.72
0.80
0.68
f
y
1
3
2.5
2
1
0.5
1.5
0
0.75
0.2
(b)
Fig. 12 (a) Theoretical phase diagram of hairy-rod supramolecule and (b) experimental phase
diagram of P8 complexed with MSA and OG. (Adapted and reproduced with permission from
Knaapila et al. (2003). Copyright 2003 The American Chemical Society)
334
M. Knaapila et al.