Nanoparticle-induced widening of the temperature range of liquid-crystalline blue phases
Condensed Matter journal club
Nanoparticle-induced widening of the temperature range of liquid-crystalline blue phases
- Event time: 11:30am
- Event date: 15th October 2010
- Speaker: Anne Pawsey (Formerly School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
- Location: Room 2511, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Abstract
Liquid-crystalline blue phases exhibit exceptional properties for applications in the display and sensor industry. However, in single component systems, they are stable only for very narrow temperature range between the isotropic and the chiral nematic phase, a feature that severely hinders their applicability. Systematic high-resolution calorimetric studies reveal that blue phase III is effectively stabilized in a wide temperature range by mixing surface-functionalized nanoparticles with chiral liquid crystals. This effect is present for two liquid crystals, yielding a robust method to stabilize blue phases, especially blue phase III. Theoretical arguments show that the aggregation of nanoparticles at disclination lines is responsible for the observed effects.PHYSICAL REVIEW E 81 041703 (2010)
Authors
Eva Karatairi, Brigita Rozic, Zdravko Kutnjak, Vassilios Tzitzios, George Nounesis, George Cordoyiannis, Jan Thoen and Christ Glorieux
About Condensed Matter journal club
Given the diversity of research in the CM group, chosen topics vary widely. We tend to stick to high-impact journals - Nature, Science, PNAS and PRL have been popular - but this is not prescriptive..