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Title: Electrostatically controlled surface boundary conditions in nematic liquid crystals and colloids

Journal Article · · Science Advances

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.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0010305; SC0019293
OSTI ID:
1611387
Journal Information:
Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 9; ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAASCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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