Co-ferrite spinel and FeCo alloy core shell nanocomposites and mesoporous systems for multifunctional applications J. Appl. Phys. 111, 07B525 (2012); 10.1063/1.3676613Colloidal gold nanosphere dispersions in smectic liquid crystals and thin nanoparticle-decorated smectic filmsWe investigate the properties of a bi-molecular film of liquid crystal close to a magnetic nanoparticle terminated with a variety of functionalization compounds using atomic force microscopy. Studies in bulk liquid crystals have shown that the functionalization compound influences how the liquid crystal reorients. The results of this investigation are compared to the results of work done on phospholipids in close contact with uncovered silica nanoparticles. Our studies of the liquid crystal in contact with the nanoparticles show that its behavior is dependent on the functionalization compound. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.

This paper investigates how changing the ZnO nanorod size and concentration in a smectic liquid crystal affect the order of the liquid crystal and the current-voltage (I-V) curves in these ZnO nanorods-octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) liquid crystal nanocomposites. 7 Â 5 Â 5 and 18 Â 7 Â 7 nm 3 nanorods show an improvement in the alignment of the liquid crystal with increasing weight percentage of ZnO nanoparticles, up to a concentration of approximately 35% wt., similar to our previous results on ZnO nanoparticles with 8CB. The resulting I-V curves are comparable to those obtained in other organic materials used for photovoltaic applications. The I-V response of these nanorod-liquid crystal nanocomposite represents an order of magnitude improvement over what was obtained with spherical nanoparticles. V

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The interfacial structure in a liquid crystal/nanoparticle nanocomposite is dictated by the type of nanoparticle and its functionalization compound. Nanocomposites consisting of smectic liquid crystals and nanoparticles have been studied for their applications in devices such as photovoltaics and to model biological devices. With the use of a model system, this paper presents evidence of an interfacial structure close to the vicinity of the nanoparticles that is more disordered than that of the bulk liquid crystal but is still in the smectic phase, and it seems to follow the faceting of the structure the nanoparticles adopt when they coalesce or recluster after the liquid crystal is added.