Surfactant-templated mesostructured sol–gel films formed by evaporation induced self assembly (EISA) exhibit highly-ordered hexagonal, lamellar, and cubic structures. The steady-state dip-coating configuration allows both the chemistry and the dynamics of the EISA process to be traced in real time because the steps involved in the formation of the mesostructured material are separated both spat...

Bicontinuous lipid cubic mesophases are widely investigated as hosting matrices for functional enzymes to build biosensors and bio-devices due to their unique structural characteristics. However, the enzymatic activity within standard mesophases (in-meso) is severely hindered by the relatively small diameter of the mesophase aqueous channels, which provide only limited space for enzymes, and re...

Liquid crystalline behavior is found for supramolecular complexes with triphenylamine units at the periphery. The high hole transport values measured in mesophase demonstrate a potential as semiconductors.

Demand for ionically conducting materials, as membranes and electrodes, is one of the driving forces of current research in chemistry, physics, and engineering. The lithium ion is a key element of these materials, and its assembly into nanostructures and mesophases is important for the membrane and electrode technologies. In this investigation, we show that hydrated lithium salts (such as LiCl·...

A revised phase diagram for water shows three distinct fluid phases. There is no continuity of liquid and gas, and no “critical point” on Gibbs’ density surface as hypothesized by van der Waals. A supercritical colloidal mesophase bounded by percolation transition loci separates supercritical liquid water and gas-phase steam. The water phase is bounded by a percolation transition (PA) of availa...

In side-chain liquid crystalline diblock copolymers, driving forces for ordering of the material may be provided by the chemical incompatibility between the blocks and by the liquid crystalline nature of one of the blocks. We study the microstructure and its development from initially isotropic solutions in side-group liquid crystalline copolymers based on styrene–isoprene diblocks. Hierarchica...

The zinc nitrate salt acts as a solvent in the ZnX-C(12)EO(10) (ZnX is [Zn(H(2)O)(6)](NO(3))(2) and C(12)EO(10) is C(12)H(25)(OCH(2)CH(2))(10)OH) lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) mesophase with a drastic dropping on the melting point of ZnX. The salt-surfactant LLC mesophase is stable down to -52 °C and undergoes a phase change into a solid mesostructured salt upon cooling below -52 °C; no ph...

2014 The synthesis of triaryl-2,4,6 pyrylium tetrafluoroborates substituted by six short (ethyloxy : C2, propyloxy : C3) alcoxy chains has been performed. Classical characterization methods (DSC and optical microscopy) show that these two new compounds present the same columnar phase Dh as that displayed by the other members of the homologous series (C4 to C12). However, these two new compounds...

We report the formation of easily accessible hydrogen-bonded columnar discotic liquid crystals (LCs) based on tris-benzoimidazolyl benzene (TBIB) and commercially available fatty acids. By increasing the length of the fatty acid, the temperature range of liquid crystallinity was tuned. Introducing double bonds in octadecanoic acid lowered the crystallization temperature and increased the temper...