Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026
From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
From channel-forming ionic liquid crystals exhibiting humidity-induced phase transitions to nanostructured
Heng Zhang1, Lei Li, Martin Möller
1DWI an der RWTH Aachen e.V. and Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry of RWTH Aachen University, Forkenbeckstr. 50, D-52056 Aachen, Germany.
Abstract:
A novel wedge-shaped amphiphilic molecule bearing a sulfonate group at the tip displays humidity-induced phase transitions from a hexagonal columnar structure to a bicontinuous cubic phase. The mesophases can be frozen by photopolymerization of acrylic end-groups resulting in free-standing membranes with different topology of ionic nanochannels. The obtained membranes with a well-ordered ionic channel structure hold promise for applications in separation and catalysis.
