Alignment of high-aspect ratio colloidal gold nanoplatelets in nematic liquid crystals
نویسندگان
چکیده
We study elasticity-mediated alignment of anisotropic gold colloids in liquid crystals. Colloidal gold particles of controlled shapes (spheres, rods, and polygonal platelets) and sizes are prepared using well-established biosynthesis techniques with varying solvent conditions. When introduced into liquid crystalline structured solvents, these gold particles impose tangential or vertical surface boundary conditions for the liquid crystal molecules or building blocks such as chromonic molecular aggregates. This allows for multiple types of their controlled alignment in both lyotropic and thermotropic liquid crystals and is of interest for self-assembly-based fabrication of tunable nanostructured composite materials.VC 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3620550]
منابع مشابه
Dispersions of ellipsoidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal.
Colloidal particles dispersed in a partially ordered medium, such as a liquid crystal (LC) phase, disturb its alignment and are subject to elastic forces. These forces are long-ranged, anisotropic and tunable through temperature or external fields, making them a valuable asset to control colloidal assembly. The latter is very sensitive to the particle geometry since it alters the interactions b...
متن کاملتغییرات ساختاری بلورمایع نماتیک آمیخته به نانوکلوئیدهای مغناطیسی
The stable colloidal dispersions of magnetic nano-particles in nematic liquid crystals are called ferronematics. Their behaviour in magnetic fields depends on various parameters such as anchoring energy, magnetic anisotropy, and shape and volume fraction of the particles. In the present paper, the threshold field is obtained for these colloidal nematics. Then, the influence of magnetic anisotr...
متن کاملSelf-organized assemblies of colloidal particles obtained from an aligned chromonic liquid crystal dispersion.
The behavior of mono-disperse colloidal particles in a chromonic liquid crystal was investigated. Poly(methyl methacrylate) spherical particles with three different functionalizations, with and without surface charges, were utilized in the nematic and columnar phases of disodium cromoglycate solutions. The nematic phase was completely aligned parallel to the glass substrates by a simple rubbing...
متن کاملMultiscale models of colloidal dispersion of particles in nematic liquid crystals.
We use homogenization theory to develop a multiscale model of colloidal dispersion of particles in nematic liquid crystals under weak-anchoring conditions. We validate the model by comparing it with simulations by using the Landau-de Gennes free energy and show that the agreement is excellent. We then use the multiscale model to study the effect that particle anisotropy has on the liquid crysta...
متن کاملNematic liquid crystal boojums with handles on colloidal handlebodies.
Topological defects that form on surfaces of ordered media, dubbed boojums, are ubiquitous in superfluids, liquid crystals (LCs), Langmuir monolayers, and Bose-Einstein condensates. They determine supercurrents in superfluids, impinge on electrooptical switching in polymer-dispersed LCs, and mediate chemical response at nematic-isotropic fluid interfaces, but the role of surface topology in the...
متن کامل