Highly anisotropic thermal conductivity of discotic nematic liquid crystalline films with homeotropic alignment

Abstract

Discotic nematic liquid crystal (DNLC) films are prepared by thermal treatment and a photo-crosslinking reaction inside sandwiched glass plates. The DNLC films exhibit outstanding in-plane thermal conductivity which is much larger than cross-plane thermal conductivity. The homeotropic alignment and higher crosslinking density of DNLCs in the films further increase the thermal conductivity anisotropy.