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Title: Directed Self-Assembly of Liquid Crystalline Blue-Phases into Ideal Single-Crystals

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Inst. for Molecular Engineering; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Material Science Division
  2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Inst. for Molecular Engineering

Chiral nematic liquid crystals are known to form blue phases—liquid states of matter that exhibit ordered cubic arrangements of topological defects. Blue-phase specimens, however, are generally polycrystalline, consisting of randomly oriented domains that limit their performance in applications. A strategy that relies on nano-patterned substrates is presented here for preparation of stable, macroscopic single-crystal blue-phase materials. Different template designs are conceived to exert control over different planes of the blue-phase lattice orientation with respect to the underlying substrate. Experiments are then used to demonstrate that it is indeed possible to create stable single-crystal blue-phase domains with the desired orientation over large regions. Lastly, these results provide a potential avenue to fully exploit the electro-optical properties of blue phases, which have been hindered by the existence of grain boundaries.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); University of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States). Materials Research Science & Engineering Center (MRSEC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1372057
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (26)

Microstructure-Stabilized Blue Phase Liquid Crystals journal November 2018
Sculpted grain boundaries in soft crystals journal November 2019
Soft crystal martensites: An in situ resonant soft x-ray scattering study of a liquid crystal martensitic transformation journal March 2020
Effect of a Dual Functional Polymer on the Electro-Optical Properties of Blue Phase Liquid Crystals journal July 2019
Smart Nanostructured Materials based on Self‐Assembly of Block Copolymers journal June 2019
Nature‐Inspired Emerging Chiral Liquid Crystal Nanostructures: From Molecular Self‐Assembly to DNA Mesophase and Nanocolloids journal August 2018
Surface-Mediated Alignment of Long Pitch Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystal Structures journal April 2018
Photoresponsive Structural Color in Liquid Crystalline Materials journal May 2019
Reconfiguration of three-dimensional liquid-crystalline photonic crystals by electrostriction journal October 2019
Photochromism into nanosystems: towards lighting up the future nanoworld journal January 2018
Self-assembled morphology of tripod nanoparticle solutions: the effect of arm length and hydrophobic ratio journal January 2018
Long-range single domain array of a 5 nm pattern of supramolecules via solvent annealing in a double-sandwich cell journal January 2018
The temperature range and optical properties of the liquid crystalline blue phase in inverse opal structures journal January 2018
Programmed self-assembly of tetrapod nanoparticles with an amphiphilic surface pattern: the effect of arm length and hydrophobic ratio journal January 2019
Development of a liquid crystal laser using a simple cubic liquid crystalline blue phase platform journal January 2019
Cuboidal liquid crystal phases under multiaxial geometrical frustration journal January 2020
Fabrication and photonic applications of large-domain blue phase films journal January 2019
Liquid crystalline blue phase materials with three-dimensional nanostructures journal January 2019
Printable photonic polymer coating based on a monodomain blue phase liquid crystal network journal January 2019
Mesoscale martensitic transformation in single crystals of topological defects journal September 2017
Surface-patterning generated half-skyrmion lattices in cholesteric blue phase thin films journal June 2018
Orientation of liquid crystalline blue phases on unidirectionally orienting surfaces journal February 2018
Sculpted grain boundaries in soft crystals journal November 2019
Voltage-controlled formation of short pitch chiral liquid crystal structures based on high-resolution surface topography journal January 2019
Nonlinear Rheology and Fracture of Disclination Network in Cholesteric Blue Phase III journal May 2018
Effect of a Dual Functional Polymer on the Electro-Optical Properties of Blue Phase Liquid Crystals journal July 2019

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