20.500.12556/RUL-190756 Bulk mesophases modeling of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals Ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLCs) are emerging materials that combine orientational order with spontaneous macroscopic polarization. They exhibit distinctive properties, such as polar domain formation, field-tunable textures, and strong electro-elastic couplings. However, due to the complexity of the underlying mechanisms, the bulk structure of the emergent mesophases is not yet fully understood, and a generalized description of all observed phases is still lacking. Here, we demonstrate the bulk mesophases of FNLCs as stabilized by a combination of flexoelectricity, elasticity, bulk ordering, and polarization-nematic couplings. Specifically, we develop Landau de-Gennes-like free energy framework that predicts and explains the structure of major experimentally observed ferroelectric nematic phases, including ferroelectric nematic, antiferroelectric splay nematic, apolar nematic, and isotropic phase, notably together with the correct phase transition sequences. Additionally, we predict the possible existence of new bend-instability-driven mesophase characterized by periodic splay-bend structure. Finally, we calculate a complete phase diagram of bulk ferroelectric nematics as dependent on the key coupling mechanisms, which could possibly enable the predictive design and applications of these novel emergent ferroelectric nematic materials. ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals feroelektrični nematski tekoči kristali true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-11-03 09:58:49 2026-11-03 09:58:50 2026-11-04 04:07:17 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 11 str. art. no. 11318 Vol. 17 Oct. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 538.9 2041-1723 10.1038/s41467-026-78039-1 293651459 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78039-1 1 bb6dffc1-d764-11f1-aea2-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=252365 s41467-026-78039-1.pdf s41467-026-78039-1.pdf 1 8C226C734B100E457B78328A411CC178 f3ba84a3222159354bb20e5ac5c07a0d037718fb072f50ba495bfaf29269762c 489e46af-d765-11f1-aea2-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=252368 Fakulteta za matematiko in fiziko 0 0 0