Self-assembly of freely-rotating polydisperse cuboids: unveiling the boundaries of the biaxial nematic phase

Polydisperse colloidal cuboids display a very rich self-assembling behaviour, which includes stable biaxial nematic liquid crystal phases.

Frustration between two- and three-dimensional smectic ordering leads to a biaxial nematic phase

T-shaped bolaamphiphiles develop 2D smectic ordering which is incompatible with the initial lamellar structure, with both structures becoming short-ranged and resulting in a 3D biaxial nematic phase with macroscopic orthorhombic symmetry.

Experimental Conditions for the Stabilization of the Lyotropic Biaxial Nematic Mesophase

Nematic phases are some of the most common phases among the lyotropic liquid crystalline structures. They have been widely investigated during last decades. In early studies, two uniaxial nematic phases (discotic, ND, and calamitic, NC) were identified. After the discovery of the third one, named biaxial nematic phase (NB) in 1980, however, some controversies in the stability of biaxial nematic phases began and still continue in the literature. From the theoretical point of view, the existence of a biaxial nematic phase is well established. This review aims to bring information about the historical development of those phases considering the early studies and then summarize the recent studies on how to stabilize different nematic phases from the experimental conditions, especially, choosing the suitable constituents of lyotropic mixtures.

From molecular biaxiality of real board-shaped mesogens to phase biaxiality? On the hunt for the holy grail of liquid crystal science

In the search of the predicted biaxial nematic phase, a series of shape-persistent board-shaped mesogens with maximum molecular biaxiality and a dipole along the minor molecular axis were designed to form nematic (N) mesophases.