Organized assemblies of colloids formed at the poles of micrometer-sized droplets of liquid crystal

Wang, Xiaoguang; Miller, Daniel S.; de Pablo, Juan J.; Abbott, Nicholas L.

doi:10.1039/C4SM01784F

Organized assemblies of colloids formed at the poles of micrometer-sized droplets of liquid crystal

Journal Article · Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Soft Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/C4SM01784F· OSTI ID:1603427

Wang, Xiaoguang ^[1]; Miller, Daniel S. ^[2]; de Pablo, Juan J. ^[3]; Abbott, Nicholas L. ^[2]

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Cornell University
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

We report on the formation of organized assemblies of 1 μm-in-diameter colloids (polystyrene (PS)) at the poles of water-dispersed droplets (diameters 7–20 μm) of nematic liquid crystal (LC). For 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl droplets decorated with two to five PS colloids, we found 32 distinct arrangements of the colloids to form at the boojums of bipolar droplet configurations. Significantly, all but one of these configurations (a ring comprised of five PS colloids) could be mapped onto a local (non-close packed) hexagonal lattice. To provide insight into the origin of the hexagonal lattice, we investigated planar aqueous-LC interfaces, and found that organized assemblies of PS colloids did not form at these interfaces. Experiments involving the addition of salts revealed that a repulsive interaction of electrostatic origin prevented formation of assemblies at planar interfaces, and that regions of high splay near the poles of the LC droplets generated cohesive interactions between colloids that could overcome the repulsion. Support for this interpretation was obtained from a model that included (i) a long-range attraction between adsorbed colloids and the boojum due to the increasing rate of strain (splay) of LC near the boojum (splay attraction), (ii) an attractive inter-colloid interaction that reflects the quadrupolar symmetry of the strain in the LC around the colloids, and (iii) electrostatic repulsion between colloids. The model predicts that electrostatic repulsion between colloids can lead to a ~1000k_BT energy barrier at planar interfaces of LC films, and that the repulsive interaction can be overcome by splay attraction of the colloids to the boojums of the LC droplets. Overall, the results reported in this paper advance our understanding of the directed assembly of colloids at interfaces of LC droplets.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Office (ARO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0004025

OSTI ID:: 1603427

Journal Information:: Soft Matter, Journal Name: Soft Matter Journal Issue: 44 Vol. 10; ISSN SMOABF; ISSN 1744-683X

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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