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Nanomaterials
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Nanocomposite and Structured Liquid Crystals (LCs): Properties and Applications
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Nanocomposite and Structured Liquid Crystals (LCs): Properties and Applications

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Nanofabrication and Nanomanufacturing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 7481

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Luciano De Sio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Medico-surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, Corso della Repubblica 79, 04100 Latina, Italy
2. CNR-Lab. Licryl, Institute NANOTEC, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy
Interests: plasmonics; liquid crystals; optics; biomaterials; optical components; nanomedicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Malgosia Kaczmarek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soft Photonics Systems Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Interests: hybrid plasmonic-soft matter systems; liquid crystals; nonlinear optics; nanomaterials; photoactive organic films

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Liquid crystals (LCs), anisotropic fluids with responses shaped by external stimuli, offer a flexible canvass to write patterns, capture nanoparticles and serve as hosts for dopants. Their extraordinary capability to manipulate light and, in turn, light to manipulate the LC orientation, led to many elegant, fundamental physical effects and configurations. Photosensitive dopants or nanoparticles can change core physical, optical or electrical parameters of the host materials paving the way for novel composite materials and application areas.

Original contributions are sought for this special issue. Suitable topics include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Self-assembly of nanoparticles mediated by smetic or chiral LCs;
  • LC nanocomposites;
  • Blue phase and patterning of LCs;
  • Solitons, soliton arrays, and nonlinear optics;
  • Properties of doped and nanocomposite LCs;
  • Patterned LC elastomers;
  • Applications of structured and doped LCs.

Dr. Luciano De Sio
Prof. Dr. Malgosia Kaczmarek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 996 KiB  
Article
Nanoparticle-Induced Property Changes in Nematic Liquid Crystals
by Nicolas Brouckaert, Nina Podoliak, Tetiana Orlova, Denitsa Bankova, Angela F. De Fazio, Antonios G. Kanaras, Ondrej Hovorka, Giampaolo D’Alessandro and Malgosia Kaczmarek
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(3), 341; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12030341 - 21 Jan 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2343
Abstract
Doping liquid crystals with nanoparticles is a widely accepted method to enhance liquid crystal’s intrinsic properties. In this study, a quick and reliable method to characterise such colloidal suspensions using an optical multi-parameter analyser, a cross-polarised intensity measurement-based device, is presented. Suspensions characterised [...] Read more.
Doping liquid crystals with nanoparticles is a widely accepted method to enhance liquid crystal’s intrinsic properties. In this study, a quick and reliable method to characterise such colloidal suspensions using an optical multi-parameter analyser, a cross-polarised intensity measurement-based device, is presented. Suspensions characterised in this work are either plasmonic (azo-thiol gold AzoGNPs) or ferroelectric Sn2P2S6 (SPS) nanoparticles in nematic liquid crystals. The elastic constants and rotational viscosity showed nonlinear dependence on the concentration of AzoGNPs, initially increasing at lower concentrations and then decreasing at higher concentrations, indicating some degree of particle aggregation. For the SPS suspension, the elastic constant decreased with doping, while the rotational viscosity increased, in agreement with previous findings. Through viscosity measurements, the stability of SPS suspension over ten years is also highlighted. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocomposite and Structured Liquid Crystals (LCs): Properties and Applications)
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13 pages, 7901 KiB  
Article
Polymer Functionalized Nanoparticles in Blue Phase LC: Effect of Particle Shape
by Manlin Zhang, Michael Lindner-D’Addario, Mahdi Roohnikan, Violeta Toader, Robert Bruce Lennox and Linda Reven
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(1), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12010091 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1400
Abstract
Ethylene oxide oligomers and polymers, free and tethered to gold nanoparticles, were dispersed in blue phase liquid crystals (BPLC). Gold nanospheres (AuNPs) and nanorods (AuNRs) were functionalized with thiolated ethylene oxide ligands with molecular weights ranging from 200 to 5000 g/mol. The BPLC [...] Read more.
Ethylene oxide oligomers and polymers, free and tethered to gold nanoparticles, were dispersed in blue phase liquid crystals (BPLC). Gold nanospheres (AuNPs) and nanorods (AuNRs) were functionalized with thiolated ethylene oxide ligands with molecular weights ranging from 200 to 5000 g/mol. The BPLC mixture (ΔTBP ~6 °C) was based on the mesogenic acid heterodimers, n-hexylbenzoic acid (6BA) and n-trans-butylcyclohexylcarboxylic acid (4-BCHA) with the chiral dopant (R)-2-octyl 4-[4-(hexyloxy)benzoyloxy]benzoate. The lowest molecular weight oligomer lowered and widened the BP range but adding AuNPs functionalized with the same ligand had little effect. Higher concentrations or molecular weights of the ligands, free or tethered to the AuNPs, completely destabilized the BP. Mini-AuNRs functionalized with the same ligands lowered and widened the BP temperature range with longer mini-AuNRs having a larger effect. In contrast to the AuNPs, the mini-AuNRs with the higher molecular weight ligands widened rather than destabilized the BP, though the lowest MW ligand yielded the largest BP range, (ΔTBP > 13 °C). The different effects on the BP may be due to the AuNPs accumulating at singular defect sites whereas the mini-AuNRs, with diameters smaller than that of the disclination lines, can more efficiently fill in the BP defects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocomposite and Structured Liquid Crystals (LCs): Properties and Applications)
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19 pages, 4346 KiB  
Article
Photo-Responsivity Improvement of Photo-Mobile Polymers Actuators Based on a Novel LCs/Azobenzene Copolymer and ZnO Nanoparticles Network
by Domenico Sagnelli, Marcella Calabrese, Olga Kaczmarczyk, Massimo Rippa, Ambra Vestri, Valentina Marchesano, Kristoffer Kortsen, Valentina Cuzzucoli Crucitti, Fulvia Villani, Fausta Loffredo, Carmela Borriello, Giuseppe Nenna, Mariacristina Cocca, Veronica Ambrogi, Katarzyna Matczyszyn, Francesco Simoni and Lucia Petti
Nanomaterials 2021, 11(12), 3320; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11123320 - 07 Dec 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3129
Abstract
The efficiency of photomobile polymers (PMP) in the conversion of light into mechanical work plays a fundamental role in achieving cutting-edge innovation in the development of novel applications ranging from energy harvesting to sensor approaches. Because of their photochromic properties, azobenzene monomers have [...] Read more.
The efficiency of photomobile polymers (PMP) in the conversion of light into mechanical work plays a fundamental role in achieving cutting-edge innovation in the development of novel applications ranging from energy harvesting to sensor approaches. Because of their photochromic properties, azobenzene monomers have been shown to be an efficient material for the preparation of PMPs with appropriate photoresponsivity. Upon integration of the azobenzene molecules as moieties into a polymer, they act as an engine, allowing fast movements of up to 50 Hz. In this work we show a promising approach for integrating ZnO nanoparticles into a liquid crystalline polymer network. The addition of such nanoparticles allows the trapping of incoming light, which acts as diffusive points in the polymer matrix. We characterized the achieved nanocomposite material in terms of thermomechanical and optical properties and finally demonstrated that the doped PMP was better performing that the undoped PMP film. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanocomposite and Structured Liquid Crystals (LCs): Properties and Applications)
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