Morphology of Liquid Crystalline Material BBOA on Graphite

We investigated the morphology of a liquid crystalline material N-(4-n-butyloxybenzylidene)-4′-octyloaniline (BBOA) by an atomic force microscope (AFM), specifically in the SmA phase prepared on the surface of the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). The observation at 330 K revealed that the film showed a striped contrast due to one-dimensional hollows. It is suggested that the BBOA molecules may align along an axis of underlying graphite.

(by D. Takajo)

	Fig. 1. Schematic view of (a) focal conic and (b) deformed focal conic. Ellipsoidal shapes represent the BBOA molecules.
	Fig.2. Molecular structure of BBOA.
	Fig.3. AFM image of the focal conic.
	Fig. 4. AFM image of the deformed focal conic.