Abstract

When molecules or particles are dissolved in a liquid crystal, they can adopt some of the ordered characteristics as their host. The same properties of liquid crystals that make them useful for display applications – orientational order, anisostropic surface coupling, and responsivity to external stimuli – can therefore also be used to influence the organization of nanoscale building blocks deposited from a liquid crystal solvent. This talk will present an overview of recent developments in the use of thermotropic liquid crystalline materials to control molecular-scale organization in the deposition of thin films, with applications to molecular monolayers on graphite, microcrystalline organic semiconductors, and small particles such as carbon nanotubes.