A Ten-Year Perspective on Twist-Bend Nematic Materials.

The discovery of the twist-bend nematic phase (N TB ) is a milestone within the field of liquid crystals. The N TB phase has a helical structure, with a repeat length of a few nanometres, and is therefore chiral, even when formed by achiral molecules. The discovery and rush to understand the rich physics of the N TB phase has provided a fresh impetus to the design and characterisation of dimeric and oligomeric liquid crystalline materials. Now, ten years after the discovery of the N TB phase, we review developments in this area, focusing on how molecular features relate to the incidence of this phase, noting the progression from simple symmetrical dimeric materials towards complex oligomers, non-covalently bonded supramolecular systems.