Capacitive Techniques to Monitor of Anchoring Energy for Liquid Crystal Sensors

Using the orientation order of the liquid crystal molecules in chemical and biological sensors has been widely investigated. In this paper, a capacitive technique to monitor the functionality of anchoring energy in liquid crystal alignment layers is presented. Sensing changes in the anchoring energy of a liquid crystal film can significantly improve sensitivity of liquid crystal based sensors. The method and theory is presented. Preliminary experimental results are provided using UV irradiation and the concentration dependence of cetyltrimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) self-assembled monolayer to alter the anchoring energy of known alignment structures.