Cucurbituril-protected gold (CBAu) nanowires were prepared by ultraviolet irradiation of an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution of tetrachloroauric(III) acid in the presences of CB. The average width and length of CB [5]Au nanowires were 256 and 6600 nm, respectively. The nanowires were dispersed in a liquid crystal, 4-cyano-4¤-pentylbiphenyl, to construct a novel twisted nematic liquid crystal device (TN-LCD). The power consumption of this TN-LCD in the presence of CBAu nanowires was lower than that in their absence.Liquid crystal molecules themselves have been investigated as raw materials for electronic display devices for more than three decades because of their electrooptic properties, and are now used to construct main parts in the information industries. Liquid crystal displays (LCDs), however, have problems with regard to power consumption, legibility under high illumination conditions, and speed of response at low temperatures. Thus, the design of LCDs with lower power consumption will have a big impact; liquid crystal sols containing nanomaterials may have novel dynamic properties different from those of the original liquid crystal medium by perturbing the self-assembly properties of the liquid crystal. The merging of nanomaterials or nanotechnology in the wide sense into self-assembled systems such as LCDs may attract the attention of researchers who are interested in inaugurating new kinds of combinations of different fields. In fact, the number of documents, especially patents on LCDs with nanomaterials, has increased rapidly in recent years. Nanomaterials reported as dispersed phases in LCDs include fullerene, 1 carbon nanotubes, 2 diamond powders, 3 noble-metal nanoparticles, 4 and semiconductor nanoparticles.
5Nanomaterials capped by organic molecules are now creating a new class of materials, different from either conventional bulk materials or atoms, providing one of the smallest building blocks of matter. 6,7 Metal nanoparticles have been stabilized by citrate ions, 8 surfactants, 9 polymers, 10 and organic ligands.11 For example, palladium nanoparticles, obtained by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a tetrahydrofuran solution of palladium(II) acetate in the presence of 4-cyano-4¤-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), are protected by 5CB and used as a dopant for guesthost LCDs.12 Poly(cyclodextrin) (PCyD)-protected rhodium nanoparticles were prepared by refluxing rhodium(III) chloride in a mixture of water/ethanol in the presence of PCyD and used as a dopant for twisted nematic (TN) LCDs with highspeed responses.13 Thus, stabilizers play important roles not only in protecting nanoparticles but also in controlling properties. Cucurbiturils, a series of cyclic oligomers of glycoluril doubly bridged by methylene linkers, have a pumpkin-like shape with all the ureido oxygen atoms situated on the portals. The cavity is hydrophobic, but the portals are hydrophilic. Premkumar et al. prepared Au nanoparticles by one-pot synthesis of potassium tetrachloroaurate(III) and cucurbit [7]uril at room temperature.14 Au nanopart...