Fast Responding Robust Nematic Liquid Crystalline Gels Formed by a Monodisperse Dipeptide: Electro-Optic and Rheological Studies

Realization of mechanically robust electrically fast responding liquid crystal devices with low operating voltage is one of the current research interests. Here we report a gel system comprising a commercially available nematic liquid crystal material and a new monodisperse dipeptide liquid crystalline organogelator that results in these properties. The gels exhibit nearly 2 orders of magnitude faster switching response than the pure nematic liquid crystal while having 3 orders of magnitude higher zero shear rate viscosity, and with the attractive feature that the switching threshold voltage is hardly altered. Electro-optic and rheological studies of this system are described here.