Reversible Switching of Liquid Crystalline Order Permits Synthesis of Homogeneous Populations of Dipolar Patchy Microparticles

Wang, Xiaoguang; Miller, Daniel S.; Pablo, Juan J. de; Abbott, Nicholas L.

doi:10.1002/adfm.201400911

Cited by 27 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(90 reference statements)

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“…To address this issue, a recent study used reversible switching of the internal configurations of LC droplets to drive the colloids to a single location on the LC droplet surfaces. As shown in Figure 13 g , a transition triggered by adsorption of surfactants induces a long-range elastic force that sweeps adsorbed colloids to a unique location (the location of the single defect of the so-called preradial LC droplet configuration) (88). A subsequent reversal of this ordering transition results in a homogeneous population of bipolar LC droplets with colloids remaining at a single location (one of the boojum defects).…”

Section: Emulsions Of Liquid Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because DNA can be assembled into a range of nanostructures based on sequence-specific interactions, and because the ordering of LCs is particularly sensitive to the presence of structure on these length scales, the use of DNA-programmed systems to trigger and regulate ordering in LC systems appears to be a particularly promising area of future research for the design of responsive materials.LC-templated synthesis of patchy particles. Recent studies have demonstrated that LC droplets can serve as templates for the synthesis of nonspherical and patchy particles (86, 88, 89). Whereas studies published so far address nonspherical particles templated from bipolar nematic droplets, other configurations of nematic droplets and droplets formed from other LC phases provide a very large parameter space of possible templates for particle synthesis.…”

Section: Concluding Remarks and Forward-looking Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…LC-templated synthesis of patchy particles. Recent studies have demonstrated that LC droplets can serve as templates for the synthesis of nonspherical and patchy particles (86, 88, 89). Whereas studies published so far address nonspherical particles templated from bipolar nematic droplets, other configurations of nematic droplets and droplets formed from other LC phases provide a very large parameter space of possible templates for particle synthesis.…”

Section: Concluding Remarks and Forward-looking Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Design of Responsive and Active (Soft) Materials Using Liquid Crystals

Büküşoğlu

Pantoja

Mushenheim

et al. 2016

Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng.

Self Cite

114

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Liquid crystals (LCs) are widely known for their use in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Indeed, LCDs represent one of the most successful technologies developed to date using a responsive soft material: An electric field is used to induce a change in ordering of the LC and thus a change in optical appearance. Over the past decade, however, research has revealed the fundamental underpinnings of potentially far broader and more pervasive uses of LCs for the design of responsive soft material systems. These systems involve a delicate interplay of the effects of surface-induced ordering, elastic strain of LCs, and formation of topological defects and are characterized by a chemical complexity and diversity of nano- and micrometer-scale geometry that goes well beyond that previously investigated. As a reflection of this evolution, the community investigating LC-based materials now relies heavily on concepts from colloid and interface science. In this context, this review describes recent advances in colloidal and interfacial phenomena involving LCs that are enabling the design of new classes of soft matter that respond to stimuli as broad as light, airborne pollutants, bacterial toxins in water, mechanical interactions with living cells, molecular chirality, and more. Ongoing efforts hint also that the collective properties of LCs (e.g., LC-dispersed colloids) will, over the coming decade, yield exciting new classes of driven or active soft material systems in which organization (and useful properties) emerges during the dissipation of energy.

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Section: Emulsions Of Liquid Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Concluding Remarks and Forward-looking Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Concluding Remarks and Forward-looking Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Design of Responsive and Active (Soft) Materials Using Liquid Crystals

Büküşoğlu

Pantoja

Mushenheim

et al. 2016

Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng.

Self Cite

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, it has been shown that topological design of lattices, environments and boundaries can increase the stability and optimize the proficiency of materials or even create materials with novel properties, for example in topological insulators, 4,5 topological superconductors and superfluids 6 and liquid crystal colloids. [7][8][9][10] The topology of the material or material system -such as knottedness or entanglement -can profoundly influence both the static and dynamic properties of the system. 11,12 Examples of knotted molecular systems include knots of DNA rings, 13 knots of cyclic RNA molecules, 14 polymer knots 15 and templatesynthesized molecular knots.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic colloidal knots in topological environments

Hashemi

Ravnik

2018

Soft Matter

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The role of environment in shaping material properties is of great significance, but less is known about how non-trivial topology of the environment couples to material states, which can be of non-trivial topology themselves. In this paper, we demonstrate the role of the topology of the environment on the formation of complex nematic fields and defect structures, specifically in the system of nematic colloidal knots. The topological environments around knotted colloidal particles are suggested to exist as spherical surface-patterned nematic cavities imposing radial, uniform or hyperbolic nematic profiles. We show that topologically different nematic environments significantly affect and create differences in the colloidal field structure created within the environment, such as the location, profile and number of topological defects. Specifically, we demonstrate that topological environments in combination with knotted colloidal particles of non-trivial topology lead to the formation of diverse nematic knotted and linked fields. These fields are different adaptations of the knotted shape of the colloidal particles, creating knots and links of topological defects as well as escaped-core defect-like solitonic structures. These are observed in chiral nematic media but here are stabilised in achiral nematic media as a result of the distinct shape of the knotted colloidal particle, with a double helix segment and nematic environmental patterns. More generally, this paper is a contribution towards understanding the role of environment, especially its topology, on the response and defect formation in elastic fields, such as in nematic liquid crystal colloids.

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Synthesis of Optically Complex, Porous, and Anisometric Polymeric Microparticles by Templating from Liquid Crystalline Droplets

Wang

Büküşoğlu

Miller

et al. 2016

Adv Funct Materials

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It is demonstrated that aqueous dispersions of micrometer-sized liquid crystal (LC) droplets provide the basis of a general and facile methodology for the templated synthesis of spherical and nonspherical polymeric microparticles with complex internal structure and porosity. Specifi cally, nematic droplets of reactive (RM257)/nonreactive mesogens with distinct internal confi gurations are prepared using a range of approaches, the reactive mesogens are photopolymerized, and then the nonreactive mesogens are extracted to yield polymeric particles. It is found that LC droplets exhibiting bipolar, radial, axial or preradial confi gurations template the formation of spindleshaped, spherical, spherocylindrical or tear-shaped polymeric microparticles, respectively. Each type of microparticle exhibits distinct optical signatures indicating the presence of an internal LC-templated, anisotropic polymer network. In addition, by using a microfl uidic system to generate monodisperse LC droplets containing 10%-40% wt/wt of RM257, spindle-shaped microparticles with tailored aspect ratios ranging from 2.4 to 1.2 are formed. The mass density of spherical microparticles templated from radial LC droplets can be tuned to range from 0.2 to 0.6 g cm −3 , revealing the introduction of porosity (confi rmed by electron microscopy) with a volume-average pore diameter of 39 ± 16 nm (obtained from nitrogen sorption isotherms).

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Reversible Switching of Liquid Crystalline Order Permits Synthesis of Homogeneous Populations of Dipolar Patchy Microparticles

Cited by 27 publications

References 62 publications

Design of Responsive and Active (Soft) Materials Using Liquid Crystals

Design of Responsive and Active (Soft) Materials Using Liquid Crystals

Nematic colloidal knots in topological environments

Synthesis of Optically Complex, Porous, and Anisometric Polymeric Microparticles by Templating from Liquid Crystalline Droplets

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