Overlooked Ionic Contribution of a Chiral Dopant in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

This study focuses on the ionic contribution by a chiral dopant added into a nematic host for preparing cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs). Chiral structures were designated by individually incorporating two enantiomers, R5011 and S5011, into the nematic E44 to construct right- and left-handed CLCs, respectively. Characterized by the space-charge polarization, the dielectric spectra of the CLCs were investigated in the low-frequency regime, where <i>f</i> ≤ 1 kHz. The role of the individual chiral dopant, R5011 or S5011, at concentrations of 0-4.0 wt.% in altering the ionic properties of the CLC material was analyzed by deducing the electrical conductivity, ion density, and ion diffusivity. Regardless of the cell structure to be antiparallel or twisted by 90°, a significant ionic response was observed in the right-handed CLCs in comparison with the left-handed counterparts, suggesting that excess ions originating from our R5011 were introduced into the mesogenic mixtures. This work alarms the potential contribution of notorious impurity ions by a chiral dopant, which is often ignored in fabricating CLCs for electro-optical applications.