Ion conductive properties in ionic liquid crystalline phases confined in a porous membrane

Liquid crystalline (LC) phases under nanoconfinement are known to exhibit exotic molecular orientational structures and phase transition behaviours. Here, we report the anisotropic ion conductivity and phase transition behaviours of ionic LC samples confined in aluminum oxide membranes with cylindrical pores. We found that these properties are different from those of the bulk ionic LC samples and depend on the molecular alignment on the pore walls.