Nanoparticle Controlled Soft Complex Structures with Topological Defects
Abstract
The goal of the project was to investigate new complex multifunctional materials and morphologies by combining anisotropic soft materials possessing topological defects (TDs) with nanoparticles (NPs) and to develop appropriate mesoscopic models describing their behavior. In these structures we used topological defects as trapping centers of appropriate NPs by exploiting the so called Defect Core Replacement (DCR) mechanism. As representative soft materials we have mostly used thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) phases. The principal subtopics of our investigation were 1) geometrically driven control of number and positioning of TDs, and 2) NP driven stabilization of various LC structures and lattices of topological defects. Among other findings, we have shown that geometry of NPs plays important role in stabilizing different blue phase structures. In particular, we have shown that highly anisotropic graphene nanosheets stabilize blue phase I, while spherical CdSe NPs stabilize blue phase III. Our results prove that i) appropriately surface treated NPs could stabilize diverse lattices of topological defects, ii) minute concentrations of NPs could enhance stability range of these structures by order of magnitude. Trapped NPs could be carrier of additional material property, i.e., in our study we inserted quantum dots exhibiting photoluminescence.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA597739
Entities
People
- Samo Kralj
Organizations
- University of Maribor