近日，美国肯特州立大学的Oleg D. Lavrentovich及其研究团队取得一项新进展。经过不懈努力，他们发现铁电液晶的手性基态。相关研究成果已于2024年3月22日在国际权威学术期刊《科学》上发表。

该研究团队证明了不受外部施加取向方向约束的铁电向列平板的基态是手性的，具有左旋和右旋极化。虽然螺旋变形和缺陷壁使相反的手性域分开，增加了弹性能量，但扭曲降低了静电能量，并且在材料中掺杂离子时变得更弱。

这项工作表明，分子的极性取向有序可以在没有化学诱导的手性中心的软物质中触发手性。

据悉，铁电向列液晶是由具有大偶极矩的非手性分子形成的。它们的三维取向有序被描述为单向极性。

附：英文原文

Title: Chiral ground states of ferroelectric liquid crystals

Author: Priyanka Kumari, Bijaya Basnet, Maxim O. Lavrentovich, Oleg D. Lavrentovich

Issue&Volume: 2024-03-22

Abstract: Ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals are formed by achiral molecules with large dipole moments. Their three-dimensional orientational order is described as unidirectionally polar. We demonstrate that the ground state of a flat slab of a ferroelectric nematic unconstrained by externally imposed alignment directions is chiral, with left- and right-handed twists of polarization. Although the helicoidal deformations and defect walls that separate domains of opposite handedness increase the elastic energy, the twists reduce the electrostatic energy and become weaker when the material is doped with ions. This work shows that the polar orientational order of molecules could trigger chirality in soft matter with no chemically induced chiral centers.

DOI: 10.1126/science.adl0834

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0834