Electrostatically controlled surface boundary conditions in nematic liquid crystals and colloids

Mundoor, Haridas; Senyuk, Bohdan; Almansouri, Mahmoud; Park, Sungoh; Fleury, Blaise; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax4257

Electrostatically controlled surface boundary conditions in nematic liquid crystals and colloids

Journal Article · Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Science Advances

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aax4257· OSTI ID:1611387

^[1]; ^[2]; Almansouri, Mahmoud ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]

Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Differing from isotropic fluids, liquid crystals exhibit highly anisotropic interactions with surfaces, which define boundary conditions for the alignment of constituent rod-like molecules at interfaces with colloidal inclusions and confining substrates. We show that surface alignment of the nematic molecules can be controlled by harnessing the competing aligning effects of surface functionalization and electric field arising from surface charging and bulk counterions. The control of ionic content in the bulk and at surfaces allows for tuning orientations of shape-anisotropic particles like platelets within an aligned nematic host and for changing the orientation of director relative to confining substrates. The ensuing anisotropic elastic and electrostatic interactions enable colloidal crystals with reconfigurable symmetries and orientations of inclusions.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0010305; SC0019293

OSTI ID:: 1611387

Journal Information:: Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 5; ISSN 2375-2548

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (38)

One-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of Carboxyl-Functionalized Upconversion Phosphors for Bioapplications Yang, Jianping; Shen, Dengke; Li, Xiaomin Chemistry - A European Journal, Vol. 18, Issue 43 https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201202336	journal	September 2012
Ferromagnetism in suspensions of magnetic platelets in liquid crystal Mertelj, Alenka; Lisjak, Darja; Drofenik, Miha Nature, Vol. 504, Issue 7479 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12863	journal	December 2013
Hexadecapolar colloids Senyuk, Bohdan; Puls, Owen; Tovkach, Oleh M. Nature Communications, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10659	journal	February 2016
Liquid-crystal materials find a new order in biomedical applications Woltman, Scott J.; Jay, Gregory D.; Crawford, Gregory P. Nature Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2010	journal	November 2007
Quasicrystalline tilings with nematic colloidal platelets Dontabhaktuni, J.; Ravnik, M.; Zumer, S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1312670111	journal	February 2014
Biaxial ferromagnetic liquid crystal colloids Liu, Qingkun; Ackerman, Paul J.; Lubensky, Tom C. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601235113	journal	September 2016
Geometry-guided colloidal interactions and self-tiling of elastic dipoles formed by truncated pyramid particles in liquid crystals Senyuk, Bohdan; Liu, Qingkun; Bililign, Ephraim Physical Review E, Vol. 91, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.91.040501	journal	April 2015
Key-lock colloids in a nematic liquid crystal Silvestre, Nuno M.; Tasinkevych, M. Physical Review E, Vol. 95, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.95.012606	journal	January 2017
Memory-Free Conic Anchoring of Liquid Crystals on a Solid Substrate Ramdane, O. Ou; Auroy, Ph.; Forget, S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.84.3871	journal	April 2000
Stokes Drag on a Sphere in a Nematic Liquid Crystal Loudet, J. C. Science, Vol. 306, Issue 5701 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102864	journal	November 2004
Shape-Controlled Colloidal Interactions in Nematic Liquid Crystals Lapointe, C. P.; Mason, T. G.; Smalyukh, I. I. Science, Vol. 326, Issue 5956 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1176587	journal	November 2009
A Self-Quenched Defect Glass in a Colloid-Nematic Liquid Crystal Composite Wood, T. A.; Lintuvuori, J. S.; Schofield, A. B. Science, Vol. 334, Issue 6052 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1209997	journal	October 2011
How to achieve a successful biaxial marriage Poulin, Philippe Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6390 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7399	journal	May 2018
Liquid Crystal Colloids Muševič, Igor Soft and Biological Matter https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54916-3	book	January 2017
Physics of colloidal dispersions in nematic liquid crystals Stark, Holger Physics Reports, Vol. 351, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0370-1573(00)00144-7	journal	October 2001
Principles of Condensed Matter Physics Chaikin, P. M.; Lubensky, T. C. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813467	book	January 1995
Coupling of the Orientations of Liquid Crystals to Electrical Double Layers Formed by the Dissociation of Surface-Immobilized Salts Shah, Rahul R.; Abbott, Nicholas L. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 105, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp004073g	journal	May 2001
Self-assembled nematic colloidal motors powered by light Yuan, Ye; Abuhaimed, Ghaneema N.; Liu, Qingkun Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07518-x	journal	November 2018
Theory of magnetic suspensions in liquid crystals Brochard, F.; de Gennes, P. G. Journal de Physique, Vol. 31, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1051/jphys:01970003107069100	journal	January 1970
Alignment of high-aspect ratio colloidal gold nanoplatelets in nematic liquid crystals Evans, Julian S.; Beier, Corinne N.; Smalyukh, Ivan I. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 110, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3620550	journal	August 2011
Statistical Mechanics of a Simple Model of the Nematic Liquid Crystal-Wall Interface II Poniewierski, A.; Sluckin, T. J. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol. 126, Issue 2-4 https://doi.org/10.1080/00268948508084786	journal	January 1985
Liquid crystal colloids Dierking, Ingo Liquid Crystals Today, Vol. 27, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1080/1358314x.2018.1479158	journal	April 2018
A new colloidal model system to study long-range interactions quantitatively in real space Royall, C. P.; Leunissen, M. E.; Blaaderen, A. van Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 15, Issue 48 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/15/48/017	journal	November 2003
Topological defects and interactions in nematic emulsions Lubensky, T. C.; Pettey, David; Currier, Nathan Physical Review E, Vol. 57, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.57.610	journal	January 1998
Rotational and translational diffusion of anisotropic gold nanoparticles in liquid crystals controlled by varying surface anchoring Senyuk, Bohdan; Glugla, David; Smalyukh, Ivan I. Physical Review E, Vol. 88, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.88.062507	journal	December 2013
Geometry-guided colloidal interactions and self-tiling of elastic dipoles formed by truncated pyramid particles in liquid crystals Senyuk, Bohdan; Liu, Qingkun; Bililign, Ephraim Physical Review E, Vol. 91, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.91.040501	journal	April 2015
Key-lock colloids in a nematic liquid crystal Silvestre, Nuno M.; Tasinkevych, M. Physical Review E, Vol. 95, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.012606	journal	January 2017
Memory-Free Conic Anchoring of Liquid Crystals on a Solid Substrate Ramdane, O. Ou; Auroy, Ph.; Forget, S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 84, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.3871	journal	April 2000
Novel Colloidal Interactions in Anisotropic Fluids Poulin, P. Science, Vol. 275, Issue 5307 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5307.1770	journal	March 1997
Triclinic nematic colloidal crystals from competing elastic and electrostatic interactions Mundoor, H.; Senyuk, B.; Smalyukh, I. I. Science, Vol. 352, Issue 6281 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf0801	journal	March 2016
Hybrid molecular-colloidal liquid crystals Mundoor, Haridas; Park, Sungoh; Senyuk, Bohdan Science, Vol. 360, Issue 6390 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aap9359	journal	May 2018
Hypercomplex Liquid Crystals Dogic, Zvonimir; Sharma, Prerna; Zakhary, Mark J. Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031113-133827	journal	March 2014
Liquid Crystal Colloids Smalyukh, Ivan I. Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-033117-054102	journal	March 2018
Triclinic nematic colloidal crystals from competing elastic and electrostatic interactions Mundoor, Haridas; Senyuk, Bohdan; Smalyukh, Ivan I. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1612.02779	text	January 2016
Hexadecapolar colloids Senyuk, Bohdan; Puls, Owen; Tovkach, Oleh M. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1612.06502	text	January 2016
Rotational and translational diffusion of anisotropic gold nanoparticles in liquid crystals controlled by varying surface anchoring Senyuk, Bohdan; Glugla, David; Smalyukh, Ivan I. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1612.07442	text	January 2016
Geometry-guided colloidal interactions and self-tiling of elastic dipoles formed by truncated pyramid particles in liquid crystals Senyuk, Bohdan; Liu, Qingkun; Bililign, Ephraim arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1612.08132	text	January 2016
Self-assembled nematic colloidal motors powered by light Yuan, Ye; Abuhaimed, Ghaneema N.; Liu, Qingkun arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2004.04065	text	January 2020

Cited By (2)

Colloidal interactions and unusual crystallization versus de-mixing of elastic multipoles formed by gold mesoflowers Yuan, Ye; Tasinkevych, Mykola; Smalyukh, Ivan I. Nature Communications, Vol. 11, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-14031-2	journal	January 2020
Colloidal interactions and unusual crystallization versus de-mixing of elastic multipoles formed by gold mesoflowers Yuan, Ye; Tasinkevych, Mykola; Smalyukh, Ivan I. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2001.00910	text	January 2020

Similar Records

Triclinic nematic colloidal crystals from competing elastic and electrostatic interactions

Journal Article · Thu Mar 31 20:00:00 EDT 2016 · Science · OSTI ID:1595171

Reconfigurable self-assembly of porous anisotropic colloids in nematic liquid crystals

Journal Article · Sun Feb 01 19:00:00 EST 2026 · Matter · OSTI ID:3018611

Hybridization of colloidal handlebodies with singular defects and topological solitons in chiral liquid crystals

Journal Article · Tue Mar 25 20:00:00 EDT 2025 · Soft Matter · OSTI ID:2538717

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
Science & Technology - Other Topics

Electrostatically controlled surface boundary conditions in nematic liquid crystals and colloids

Citation Formats

References (38)

Cited By (2)

Similar Records

Related Subjects