CRYSTAL AND

ITS
APPLICATIONS
 Contents
 Introduction of Liquid Crystals
 Structure of Liquid crystals
 Classification of Liquid Crystals on
basis of Temperature
 Application of Liquid Crystals
 A crystal is having highly ordered arrangement with long range positional
and orientational order.

 All substances do not change sharply from orderly arrangements to less

organised liquids on melting. They flow like a liquid inspite their molecules
are even orderly. These materials are called liquid crystals.

 Liquid crystals is an intermediate stage between crystalline solid and liquid

phase.So they are also known as mesomorphic state.
 So there are certain solids which when heated undergo two sharp phase transformations one after the
other.

They first changes into turbid liquid and then into clear liquid at a fixed temperatures. These process
can be exactly reversed on cooling.

Solid↔ turbid liquid ↔ clear liquid

The intermediate phase possess anisotropy in its properties ,so it is known as mesomorphic state or
liquid crystals.The temperature at which solid changes into turbid liquid is called transition point and
the temperature at which turbid liquid changes into clear liquid is called melting point.
Liquid crystals was discovered by Reinitzer and Lehmann in1888.

Cholesteryl benzoate was the first solid discovered to have this peculiar property. It
fuses into turbid liquid at 145◦c and then into clear liquid at 178◦c .

Substances that are likely to form a liquid crystal phase at a particular temperature
are molecules that are elongated and have some rigidity.

Liquid crystals are attributed to their sensitivity to various stimuli, such as

temperature, pressure, electric and magnetic fields.
 Classification of Liquid Crystals
Liquid crystals can be classified into two types:
THERMOTROPIC LIQUID CRYSTALS: Phase forms as a function of temperature
LYOTROPIC IQUID CRYSTALS: Phase forms as a function of concentration

Thermotropic behaviour means the compounds are liquid crystalline within a defined
temperature range, below this range compounds are crystalline and above it compounds
are isotropic liquids .

 Thermotropic liquid crystalline compounds also require no solvent.

Thermotropic liquid crystals can be further divided into three types:

Nematic liquid crystals

Smectic liquid crystals
Cholesteric or chiral nematic liquid crystals
 Nematic Liquid Crystals
Nematic” comes from the Ancient Greek word ‘”nema” meaning thread) as when
observed through a microscope thread-like structures are observed.
The Nematic phase have no positional order and molecules are present in same
directions.
 In Nematic liquid crystal, molecules are arranged parallel with each other and on
increasing the temperature ,molecules align in same direction. e.g. Cyanobiphenyl
As structure of nematic phase can be altered by using external electric and magnetic
field so Nematic liquid crystal can be used in electro optic display devices.
 Smectic Liquid Crystals
 Smectic ” comes from the Ancient Greek word ‘”smektos” meaning soap like.
In these LC molecules have position as well as orientational order, thus organised in
layers
No corelation of the molecular position from one layer to the next isfound in Smectic
liquid crystal.
Due to this , well ordered layers can slide over one another in a manner similar to
soap.
Smectic Liquid Crystals can be further classified into”:
Smectic A phase: Molecules are oriented along the director
Smectic C phase: Molecules are slightly tilted away from the director
 Cholesteric Liquid Crystals
 This phase exhibit chirality.
Only chiral molecules can exhibit this phase
In cholesteric liquid crystal there is orientational order and no positional order.
The structure of cholesteric liquid crystal depends on itch which can be defined as
the distance over which the directormakes one complete turn and is affected by
temperature,pressure and electric and magnetic field.e.g Cholesteryl Benzoate.
 Applications of Liquid Crystals
Twisted nematic phases are used in liquid crystal displays(LCD).
 Liquid crystals are used in thermography for detecting tumours in circulatory
system.
Also used in liquid crystal thermometers for measuring skin temperature.
Liquid crystal temperature sensors used to find bad connections on circuit board by
detecting the high temperature.
 Chiral liquid crystals are also used in the field of stereochemistry, optics and
material science.