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Title: Transformation between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles, and hexadecapoles driven by surfactant self-assembly in nematic emulsion

Abstract

Emulsions comprising isotropic fluid drops within a nematic host are of interest for applications ranging from biodetection to smart windows, which rely on changes of molecular alignment structures around the drops in response to chemical, thermal, electric and other stimuli. We show that absorption or desorption of trace amounts of common surfactants can drive continuous transformations of elastic multipoles induced by the droplets within the uniformly aligned nematic host. Out-of-equilibrium dynamics of director structures emerge from a controlled self-assembly or desorption of different surfactants at the drop-nematic interfaces, with ensuing forward and reverse transformations between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles and hexadecapoles. We characterize inter-transformations of droplet-induced surface and bulk defects, probe elastic pair interactions and discuss emergent prospects for fundamental science and applications of the reconfigurable nematic emulsions.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
  2. Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
  3. Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA., Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR.
  4. Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA., Center for Molecular Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA.
  5. Department of Physics and Soft Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA., Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA., Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1797625
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1815413; OSTI ID: 1832168
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0019293; SC0019762
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Science Advances Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 25; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; liquid crystals; droplets; topological defects; elastic multipoles; elastic octupoles; elastic dipoles; elastic quadrupoles; elastic hexadecapoles; surfactant; self-assembly; nematic; emulsion; Liquid crystals, droplets, topological defects, elastic multipoles, elastic octupoles, elastic dipoles, elastic quadrupoles, elastic hexadecapoles, surfactant, self-assembly, nematic, emulsion

Citation Formats

Senyuk, Bohdan, Mozaffari, Ali, Crust, Kevin, Zhang, Rui, de Pablo, Juan J., and Smalyukh, Ivan I. Transformation between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles, and hexadecapoles driven by surfactant self-assembly in nematic emulsion. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg0377.
Senyuk, Bohdan, Mozaffari, Ali, Crust, Kevin, Zhang, Rui, de Pablo, Juan J., & Smalyukh, Ivan I. Transformation between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles, and hexadecapoles driven by surfactant self-assembly in nematic emulsion. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg0377
Senyuk, Bohdan, Mozaffari, Ali, Crust, Kevin, Zhang, Rui, de Pablo, Juan J., and Smalyukh, Ivan I. Fri . "Transformation between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles, and hexadecapoles driven by surfactant self-assembly in nematic emulsion". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg0377.
@article{osti_1797625,
title = {Transformation between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles, and hexadecapoles driven by surfactant self-assembly in nematic emulsion},
author = {Senyuk, Bohdan and Mozaffari, Ali and Crust, Kevin and Zhang, Rui and de Pablo, Juan J. and Smalyukh, Ivan I.},
abstractNote = {Emulsions comprising isotropic fluid drops within a nematic host are of interest for applications ranging from biodetection to smart windows, which rely on changes of molecular alignment structures around the drops in response to chemical, thermal, electric and other stimuli. We show that absorption or desorption of trace amounts of common surfactants can drive continuous transformations of elastic multipoles induced by the droplets within the uniformly aligned nematic host. Out-of-equilibrium dynamics of director structures emerge from a controlled self-assembly or desorption of different surfactants at the drop-nematic interfaces, with ensuing forward and reverse transformations between elastic dipoles, quadrupoles, octupoles and hexadecapoles. We characterize inter-transformations of droplet-induced surface and bulk defects, probe elastic pair interactions and discuss emergent prospects for fundamental science and applications of the reconfigurable nematic emulsions.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.abg0377},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 25,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Fri Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg0377

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