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Nanomaterials
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The Impact of Nanoparticles on Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals
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The Impact of Nanoparticles on Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Synthesis, Interfaces and Nanostructures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2024 | Viewed by 3409

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Sylwester J. Rzoska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Imstitute of High Pressure Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sokolowska 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: liquid crystals; nanoparticles; phase transitions; vitrification; glasses; supercooled liquid; high pressures; dielectric spectroscopy
Dr. Aleksandra Drozd-Rzoska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Sokołowska 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: liquid crystals; high pressures; nanocolloids; nanocomposites; polymers; critical phenomena; model foods; model cosmetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years a strong impact of even tiny addition of nanoparticles of properties of liquid crystalline (LC) compounds has been revealed. It includes changes in phase transition temperatures, unique dynamics, the permanent inherent superior orientations of rod-like LC molecules, or the appearance of the pre-melting and post-freezing effects. When combining nanoparticles and pressure, one can even observe the near-continuous Isotropic—Nematic transition, formally ‘forbidden’ in pure rod-like KC compounds. The dominant part of these unique features is the results of the mutual influence of nanoparticles, molecular features of LC compound, and multimolecular pretransitional fluctuations. We stress the latter because the essential impact of fluctuations has only recently been noted.

The target of this issue is to broaden the fundamental insight into the given topic and indicate possible applications emerging from the experimental evidence and modelling.

Prof. Dr. Sylwester J. Rzoska
Dr. Aleksandra Drozd-Rzoska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • liquid crystals
  • nanoparticles
  • nanocolloids
  • critical phenomena
  • phase transitions
  • fluctuations

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 4193 KiB  
Article
Criticality Controlling Mechanisms in Nematic Liquid Crystals
by Maha Zid, George Cordoyiannis, Zdravko Kutnjak and Samo Kralj
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(3), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14030320 - 5 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1203
Abstract
We theoretically study the generic mechanisms that could establish critical behavior in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs). The corresponding free energy density terms should exhibit linear coupling with the nematic order parameter and, via this coupling, enhance the nematic order. We consider both temperature- [...] Read more.
We theoretically study the generic mechanisms that could establish critical behavior in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs). The corresponding free energy density terms should exhibit linear coupling with the nematic order parameter and, via this coupling, enhance the nematic order. We consider both temperature- and pressure-driven, order–disorder phase transitions. We derive a scaled effective free energy expression that describes how qualitatively different mechanisms enforce critical behavior. Our main focus is on the impact of nanoparticles (NPs) in homogeneous NP-NLC mixtures. We illustrate that in the case of pressure-driven phase changes, lower concentrations are needed to impose critical point conditions in comparison with pure temperature variations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Nanoparticles on Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals)
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14 pages, 4694 KiB  
Article
Biaxial Structures of Localized Deformations and Line-like Distortions in Effectively 2D Nematic Films
by Luka Mesarec, Samo Kralj and Aleš Iglič
Nanomaterials 2024, 14(3), 246; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14030246 - 23 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1133
Abstract
We numerically studied localized elastic distortions in curved, effectively two-dimensional nematic shells. We used a mesoscopic Landau-de Gennes-type approach, in which the orientational order is theoretically considered by introducing the appropriate tensor nematic order parameter, while the three-dimensional shell shape is described by [...] Read more.
We numerically studied localized elastic distortions in curved, effectively two-dimensional nematic shells. We used a mesoscopic Landau-de Gennes-type approach, in which the orientational order is theoretically considered by introducing the appropriate tensor nematic order parameter, while the three-dimensional shell shape is described by the curvature tensor. We limited our theoretical consideration to axially symmetric shapes of nematic shells. It was shown that in the surface regions of stomatocyte-class nematic shell shapes with large enough magnitudes of extrinsic (deviatoric) curvature, the direction of the in-plane orientational ordering can be mutually perpendicular above and below the narrow neck region. We demonstrate that such line-like nematic distortion configurations may run along the parallels (i.e., along the circular lines of constant latitude) located in the narrow neck regions of stomatocyte-like nematic shells. It was shown that nematic distortions are enabled by the order reconstruction mechanism. We propose that the regions of nematic shells that are strongly elastically deformed, i.e., topological defects and line-like distortions, may attract appropriately surface-decorated nanoparticles (NPs), which could potentially be useful for the controlled assembly of NPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Nanoparticles on Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals)
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14 pages, 1616 KiB  
Article
Exploring Quantum Dots Size Impact at Phase Diagram and Electrooptical Properties in 8CB Liquid Crystal Soft-Nanocomposites
by Stefanos Basim Atata and Ioannis Lelidis
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(22), 2980; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13222980 - 20 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 957
Abstract
We explore the influence of functionalized core–shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on the properties of the host liquid crystal compound 4-cyano-4′-octylbiphenyl (8CB) through electrooptical measurements. Two different diameters of quantum dots are used to investigate the size effects. We assess both the dispersion quality [...] Read more.
We explore the influence of functionalized core–shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on the properties of the host liquid crystal compound 4-cyano-4′-octylbiphenyl (8CB) through electrooptical measurements. Two different diameters of quantum dots are used to investigate the size effects. We assess both the dispersion quality of the nanoparticles within the mixtures and the phase stability of the resulting anisotropic soft nanocomposites using polarizing optical microscopy. The temperature-mass fraction phase diagrams of the nanocomposites reveal deviations from the linear behavior in the phase stability lines. We measure the birefringence, the threshold voltage of the Fréedericksz transition, and the electrooptic switching times of the nanocomposite systems in planar cell geometry as functions of temperature, mass fraction, and diameter of the quantum dots. Beyond a critical mass fraction of the dopant nanoparticles, the nematic order is strongly reduced. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of the nanoparticle size and mass fraction on the viscoelastic coefficient. The anchoring energy at the interfaces of the liquid crystal with the cell and the quantum dots is estimated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Nanoparticles on Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals)
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