Studies of casting and LB films of ferroelectric liquid crystalline polysiloxane

Monolayers of side chain ferroelectric liquid crystalline polysiloxane have been successively transferred onto appropriate substrates by vertical dipping method to study the morphology and the orientation of the mesogens and the side chains by UV spectra and polarized FT-IR spectra and X-ray diffraction. The spectra for casting film and LB film are compared. The molecules in LB films are found to be more orientated along the normal of the substrate at an angle of 37° for the mesogens as the side chain as found by polarized FT-IR spectra and transmitting FT-IR spectra than casting film. Layer structure is also confirmed by X-ray diffraction results. The mesogens are found to form H-aggregates structure in bulk phase and LB films from UV spectra. Temperature-dependent UV spectra have revealed the change of the tilt angle of the mesogens inside the layer of both bulk phase and LB films.