Phase Behavior and Thermal Stabilization Study of Blue Phase Liquid Crystal-Unfunctionalized Nanoparticle Blends

作者：Nayek Prasenjit; Mukherjee Amrita; Jeong Heon; Kang Shin Woong^*; Lee Seung Hee; Yokoyama Hiroshi

来源：Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 2013, 13(6): 4072-4078.

DOI：10.1166/jnn.2013.6687

• Blue Phase Liquid Crystal
• Nanoparticles
• Polarising Microscopy

We have studied the phase behavior of blue phase liquid crystal (BPLC)-unfunctionalized nano-particle (NP) blends. Two different types of NPs which have different anchoring properties have been studied. Interestingly, Silica NP doped BPLC blends have revealed a small but clear positive shift of the Isotropic-BP phase transition temperature for lower concentration of NPs whereas with higher percentage of NPs we have observed a mixed phase consisted with chiral nematic (N*) and BR On the other hand, low concentration polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) NPs which have stronger anchoring force than Silica NPs have enabled BP to stabilize thermally. Our experimental results agrees with the recent theory predicted that NP-defect interaction strongly depends on the interfacial energy between NP and LC which may be responsible for the observed effects in unfunctionalized NP-BPLC composite system.

• 出版日期2013-6