Phase Transitions and Molecular Mobility of a Discotic Liquid Crystal under Nanoscale Confinement

The phase behavior and the molecular dynamics of a pyrene-based discotic liquid crystal when confined in nanoporous aluminum membranes with different pore sizes is studied by broadband dielectric spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. In confinement the two phase transitions between plastic crystalline and hexagonal ordered phase at lower and from the latter to an isotropic state at higher temperatures are also observed, but two different phase structures close to the wall and in the pore center are evidenced by two peaks in the heat flow for the first time. While the former peak is independent of the pore size, the depression of the phase transition temperatures of the latter ones can be described by the Gibbs-Thomson equation. With decreasing pore size for both phase transitions the transition enthalpies decrease. A critical pore size for phase transformation of about 20 nm is estimated from the pore size dependence of the transition enthalpies. Like for the bulk, an alpha-relaxation is also observed in confinement. At the phase transition its relaxation rates show a discontinuity from which a dielectric phase transition temperature can be extracted. For temperatures above and below the phase transition the temperature of the relaxation rate can be approximated by an Arrhenius equation. The pore size dependence of the estimated apparent activation energies is ascribed to the interplay between pore size and interaction effects. The cooperative nature of the underlying molecular dynamics is indicated by the occurrence of the well-known compensation law.