Wetting and interfacial order at nematic free surfaces

Abstract

We apply a density-functional theory to the free surface of a model liquid crystal, to investigate the orientational order at the nematic free surface of systems exhibiting orientational wetting at the isotropic liquid-vapour interface. It is shown that the theory accounts for the growth of the surface ordered layer which develops at the nematic-vapour interface, as the temperature increases up to the triple point, as was recently reported for 4-cyano-4′-n-alkyl-biphenyls. We have found a correlation between the growth of this layer and the non-monotonic temperature dependence of the interfacial tension below the triple point. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with the results for 8CB.