Aggregation of Nanoparticles in a Nematic Liquid Crystal

Abstract

We present a short review of our general result in [1], which concerns the behavior of a collection of nanoparticles in a nematic liquid crystal. Such liquid crystal colloids are studied for a long time, have highly peculiar characteristics, and have attracted a lot of the interest in different practical applications. A simple model of the aggregation of nanoparticles in a liquid crystal is proposed. With regard for the collective effect of the interaction between the small particles through a change in the scalar order parameter in a nematic liquid crystal, the inhomogeneous distribution of particles is predicted as distinct from possible structures in the system of macroscopic particles in a liquid crystal. The inhomogeneity length and the size of a cluster of nanoparticles are determined, and the possible peculiarities in the behavior of liquid crystals with introduced nanoparticles are described. K e y w o r d s: nanoparticles, nematic liquid crystal, collective effect, inhomogeneity.