描述分散在向列相液晶中的纳米粒子对之间的可逆相互作用。

Characterization of the reversible interaction of pairs of nanoparticles dispersed in nematic liquid crystals.

机构信息

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.

出版信息

Langmuir. 2009 Dec 1;25(23):13318-21. doi: 10.1021/la903464t.

DOI:10.1021/la903464t

PMID:19928936

Abstract

Observations of reversible interactions between pairs of chemically functionalized nanoparticles dispersed in nematic liquid crystals (LCs) are reported. In contrast to the irreversible association of microparticles in nematic LCs, by using gold nanoparticles and darkfield microscopy, particle tracking reveals the pairwise interactions of the nanoparticles in nematic LCs to be long-ranged and reversible. The measured range and strength of the pairwise interaction of the nanoparticles in the LCs was found to differ substantially from past theoretical predictions of nanoparticle interactions in LCs. The observation of reversible interactions between nanoparticles in LCs suggests that nematic LCs may provide new routes to spontaneous formation of ordered nanoparticle arrays.

摘要

本文报道了在向列液晶中分散的化学功能化纳米粒子对之间可相互逆转的相互作用的观察结果。与各向异性液晶中微粒子的不可逆聚集相反，通过使用金纳米粒子和暗场显微镜，粒子跟踪揭示了纳米粒子在向列液晶中的成对相互作用是长程的和可逆的。研究发现，在液晶中纳米粒子的成对相互作用的测量范围和强度与过去对液晶中纳米粒子相互作用的理论预测有很大的不同。在液晶中观察到纳米粒子之间的可逆相互作用表明，向列液晶可能为有序纳米粒子阵列的自发形成提供新途径。