Director Configuration Transitions of Polyelectrolyte Coated Liquid-Crystal Droplets

作者：Zou Jianhua; Bera Tanmay; Davis Alicia A; Liang Wenlang; Fang Jiyu^*

来源：Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2011, 115(29): 8970-8974.

DOI：10.1021/jp201909m

Liquid-crystal droplets are of great interest because of their large surface areas, rich phases, and tunable optical properties. The director configuration of liquid-crystal droplets provides a unique optical sign to detect the events occurring at the droplet surface. In this article, we report the alternating bipolar/radial configuration transitions of 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (SCB) droplets triggered by the layer-by-layer coating of negatively charged poly(styrenesulfonate sodium (PSS) and positively charged poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMAC) on the droplet surface. The alternating configuration transitions are due to the interactions of the SCB with polar versus nonpolar PDADMAC/PSS multilayer coatings. Furthermore, we find that the coating of PDADMAC/PSS multilayers makes the director configuration of the SCB in the droplets sensitive to environmental salt concentrations.

• 出版日期2011-7-28