Reversible microscale assembly of nanoparticles driven by the phase transition of a thermotropic liquid crystal

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich ◽  
Stephen Schrettl ◽  
Nicholas B. Tito ◽  
Ye Yang ◽  
Malavika Nair ◽  
...  

The arrangement of nanoscale building blocks into patterns with microscale periodicity is challenging to achieve via self-assembly processes. Here, we report on the phase transition-driven collective assembly of gold nanoparticles in a thermotropic liquid crystal. A temperature-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase leads to the assembly of individual nanometre-sized particles into arrays of micrometre-sized aggregates, whose size and characteristic spacing can be tuned by varying the cooling rate. This fully reversible process offers hierarchical control over structural order on the molecular, nanoscopic, and microscopic level and is an interesting model system for the programmable patterning of nanocomposites with access to micrometre-sized periodicities.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich ◽  
Stephen Schrettl ◽  
Nicholas B. Tito ◽  
Ye Yang ◽  
Malavika Nair ◽  
...  

The arrangement of nanoscale building blocks into patterns with microscale periodicity is challenging to achieve via self-assembly processes. Here, we report on the phase transition-driven collective assembly of gold nanoparticles in a thermotropic liquid crystal. A temperature-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase leads to the assembly of individual nanometre-sized particles into arrays of micrometre-sized aggregates, whose size and characteristic spacing can be tuned by varying the cooling rate. This fully reversible process offers hierarchical control over structural order on the molecular, nanoscopic, and microscopic level and is an interesting model system for the programmable patterning of nanocomposites with access to micrometre-sized periodicities.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich ◽  
Stephen Schrettl ◽  
Nicholas B. Tito ◽  
Ye Yang ◽  
Malavika Nair ◽  
...  

The arrangement of nanoscale building blocks into patterns with microscale periodicity is challenging to achieve via self-assembly processes. Here, we report on the phase transition-driven collective assembly of gold nanoparticles in a thermotropic liquid crystal. A temperature-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase leads to the assembly of individual nanometre-sized particles into arrays of micrometre-sized aggregates, whose size and characteristic spacing can be tuned by varying the cooling rate. This fully reversible process offers hierarchical control over structural order on the molecular, nanoscopic, and microscopic level and is an interesting model system for the programmable patterning of nanocomposites with access to micrometre-sized periodicities.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Picken ◽  
Theo J. Dingemans ◽  
Louis A. Madsen ◽  
Oriano Francescangeli ◽  
Edward T. Samulski

2011 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandra Shekhar Pati Tripathi ◽  
Patricia Losada-Pérez ◽  
Christ Glorieux ◽  
Alexandra Kohlmeier ◽  
Maria-Gabriela Tamba ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
E. García-Sánchez ◽  
L. H. Mendoza-Huizar ◽  
F. J. Martínez-Ruíz ◽  
J. R. Pasilla-Díaz ◽  
L. O. Solís-Sánchez ◽  
...  

Langmuir ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuemei Chen ◽  
Benjamin D. Hamlington ◽  
Amy Q. Shen

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 4394-4404 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. O. López ◽  
B. Robles-Hernández ◽  
J. Salud ◽  
M. R. de la Fuente ◽  
N. Sebastián ◽  
...  

We have developed a Landau model that predicts a first order twist-bend nematic–nematic phase transition.


2006 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Wiant ◽  
S. Stojadinovic ◽  
K. Neupane ◽  
S. Sharma ◽  
K. Fodor-Csorba ◽  
...  

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