Successive formation of a gel network and a lyotropic liquid crystal: does the chronology play a role?

Abstract

In this work lyotropic liquid crystals are gelled with low molecular weight gelators (LMWG). The focus is thereby on two fundamental questions. (1) Does the chronology of LLC and gel formation influence the size and orientation of the LLC domains and the alignment of the gel fibers? (2) Do the gel network and the LLC form simultaneously but independently, i.e. are gelled LLC orthogonal self-assembled systems?