Polarity in Liquid Crystals Formed by Self-Assembled Umbrella-Shaped Subphthalocyanine Mesogens.

We investigated the properties of p-type semiconducting columnar phases in self-assembled umbrella-shaped mesogens that have subphthalocyanine cores and oligo-thienyl arms. These compounds have nonswitchable phases that exhibit remanent electric polarization and nonlinear optical activity. Additionally, these compounds can generate photocurrents in the visible spectral range due to their wide absorption band. The photocurrent can be significantly increased by doping materials with fullerene. The charge mobility shows an anomalous field dependence, which decreases with the temperature.