Nematic liquid crystal flow driven by time-varying active surface anchoring

Seyednejad, Seyed Reza (author), Ravnik, Miha (author)

We demonstrate the generation of diverse material flow regimes in nematic liquid cells as driven by time-variable active surface anchoring, including no-net flow, oscillatory flow, steady flow, and pulsating flow. Specifically, we numerically simulate a passive nematic fluid inside a cell bounded with two flat solid boundaries at which the time-dependent anchoring is applied with the dynamically variable surface anchoring easy axis. We show that different flow regimes emerge as the result of different anchoring driving directions (i.e. co-rotating or counter-rotating) and relative phase of anchoring driving. The flow magnitude is tunable by cell thickness and anchoring driving frequency. More generally, this work aims towards possible applications of responsive time-variable surfaces, including photonics or synthetic active matter.

• Language: English
• Keywords: soft matter physics, nematic liquid crystals, surface anchoring
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 835-843
• Numbering: Vol. 21, iss. 5
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-167049
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 1744-683X
• DOI: 10.1039/D4SM00924J
• COBISS.SI-ID: 222641155
• Publication date in RUL: 05.02.2025

SEYEDNEJAD, Seyed Reza and RAVNIK, Miha, 2025, Nematic liquid crystal flow driven by time-varying active surface anchoring. Soft matter [online]. 2025. Vol. 21, no. 5, p. 835–843. [Accessed 26 April 2025]. DOI 10.1039/D4SM00924J. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=167049

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Soft matter
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• ISSN: 1744-683X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 19616551

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 3.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
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Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: fizika mehke snovi, nematski tekoči kristali, površinsko sidranje