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Title: Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase

Abstract

A continuum theory is used to study the interactions between nanoparticles suspended in nematic liquid crystals. The free energy functional that describes the system is minimized using an Euler–Lagrange approach and an unsymmetric radial basis function method. It is shown that nanoparticle liquid-crystal mediated interactions can be controlled over a large range of magnitudes through changes of the anchoring energy and the particle diameter. Finally, the results presented in this work serve to reconcile past discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental observations, and suggest intriguing possibilities for directed nanoparticle self-assembly in liquid crystalline media.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  2. Univ. Nacional de Colombia, Medellín (Colombia)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1630265
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0004025; DMR-0425880
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Langmuir
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 28; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 0743-7463
Publisher:
American Chemical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; free energy; binding energy; nanoparticles; defects; order

Citation Formats

Tomar, V., Roberts, T. F., Abbott, N. L., Hernández-Ortiz, J. P., and de Pablo, J. J. Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1021/la204119p.
Tomar, V., Roberts, T. F., Abbott, N. L., Hernández-Ortiz, J. P., & de Pablo, J. J. Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/la204119p
Tomar, V., Roberts, T. F., Abbott, N. L., Hernández-Ortiz, J. P., and de Pablo, J. J. Mon . "Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/la204119p. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1630265.
@article{osti_1630265,
title = {Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase},
author = {Tomar, V. and Roberts, T. F. and Abbott, N. L. and Hernández-Ortiz, J. P. and de Pablo, J. J.},
abstractNote = {A continuum theory is used to study the interactions between nanoparticles suspended in nematic liquid crystals. The free energy functional that describes the system is minimized using an Euler–Lagrange approach and an unsymmetric radial basis function method. It is shown that nanoparticle liquid-crystal mediated interactions can be controlled over a large range of magnitudes through changes of the anchoring energy and the particle diameter. Finally, the results presented in this work serve to reconcile past discrepancies between theoretical predictions and experimental observations, and suggest intriguing possibilities for directed nanoparticle self-assembly in liquid crystalline media.},
doi = {10.1021/la204119p},
journal = {Langmuir},
number = 14,
volume = 28,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Mon Mar 12 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}

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Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 52 works
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