Funct. Mater. 2023; 30 (2): 303-308.

doi:https://doi.org/10.15407/fm30.02.303

Liquid crystal sensors for detection of volatile organic compounds: comparative effects of vapor absorption and temperature on the phase state of the sensor material

I.A.Gvozdovskyy1, Y.M.Kachurak2, P.V.Vashchenko3, I.A.Kravchenko4, Z.M.Mykytyuk2

1Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
2Department of Electronic Engineering, Lviv Polytechnic National University, Lviv, Ukraine
3Institute for Scintillation Materials, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine
4Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, Campus E8 1, 66123 Saarbrucken, Germany

Abstract: 

A liquid crystal (LC) system comprising the nematic mixture E7 and chiral dopant CB15 was tested as sensor material for detection of ethanol vapors. This material had been shown to undergo a two-stage non-linear variation of optical transmission with time under the action of ethanol vapor. In comparative experiments, ethanol was introduced into the LC layer by absorption from vapor or by direct admixing as liquid. Evaporation kinetics were studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in both cases. The obtained results allowed data matching for effects of temperature and ethanol introduction on the formation of the &qout;blue phase&qout; (BP) in the sensor material. It has been shown by optical microscopy that the presence of ethanol (dissolved or absorbed) within certain concentration limits was not narrowing the BP temperature range, but just shifted it downwards, thus leading to the BP being induced by ethanol vapor in isothermal conditions.

Keywords: 
liquid crystal, vapor detection, sensor material, ethanol, termogravimetry, blue phase.

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