CdSe nanoparticles dispersed in ferroelectric smectic liquid crystals: effects upon the smectic order and the smectic-A to chiral smectic-C phase transition

Exploring Quantum Dots Size Impact at Phase Diagram and Electrooptical Properties in 8CB Liquid Crystal Soft-Nanocomposites

We explore the influence of functionalized core-shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dots on the properties of the host liquid crystal compound 4-cyano-4'-octylbiphenyl (8CB) through electrooptical measurements. Two different diameters of quantum dots are used to investigate the size effects. We assess both the dispersion quality of the nanoparticles within the mixtures and the phase stability of the resulting anisotropic soft nanocomposites using polarizing optical microscopy. The temperature-mass fraction phase diagrams of the nanocomposites reveal deviations from the linear behavior in the phase stability lines. We measure the birefringence, the threshold voltage of the Fréedericksz transition, and the electrooptic switching times of the nanocomposite systems in planar cell geometry as functions of temperature, mass fraction, and diameter of the quantum dots. Beyond a critical mass fraction of the dopant nanoparticles, the nematic order is strongly reduced. Furthermore, we investigate the impact of the nanoparticle size and mass fraction on the viscoelastic coefficient. The anchoring energy at the interfaces of the liquid crystal with the cell and the quantum dots is estimated.

Concentration-dependent dielectric and electro-optical properties of composites based on nematic liquid crystals and CdS:Mn quantum dots

Composites in a wide concentration range of 0-0.6 wt% based on a nematic liquid crystal mixture and CdS quantum dots doped with manganese ions (Mn 6%) are presented. The effect of the CdS:Mn quantum dots on the phase diagram and electronic structure of composites was studied using differential scanning calorimetry and fluorescence analysis. Nonmonotonic concentration-dependent changes in the clearing point, which correlate with the fluorescence quenching behavior of the main CdS:Mn peak, were found. Dielectric spectroscopy and electro-optic studies revealed a corresponding increase in the dielectric permittivity anisotropy and birefringence in the 0.2-0.4 wt% range, where thermodynamic changes occur. The initiating factors behind this effect are supposed to be the self-assembly of quantum dots, and the distortion of the orientation order of liquid crystal molecules at a higher mass concentration of quantum dots.

Impact of spherical nanoparticles on nematic order parameters

We study experimentally the impact of spherical nanoparticles on the orientational order parameters of a host nematic liquid crystal. We use spherical core-shell quantum dots that are surface functionalized to promote homeotropic anchoring on their interface with the liquid crystal host. We show experimentally that the orientational order may be strongly affected by the presence of spherical nanoparticles even at low concentrations. The orientational order of the composite system is probed by means of polarized micro-Raman spectroscopy and by optical birefringence measurements as function of temperature and concentration. Our data show that the orientational order depends on the concentration in a nonlinear way, and the existence of a crossover concentration χ_{c}≈0.004pw. It separates two different regimes exhibiting pure-liquid crystal like (χ<χ_{c}) and distorted-nematic ordering (χ>χ_{c}), respectively. In the latter phase the degree of ordering is lower with respect to the pure-liquid crystal nematic phase.

Peculiarity of the interaction of small particles in smectic liquid crystals

We investigate the peculiarity of the interaction between particles immersed into a smectic liquid crystal with a layered structure. Such a structure of a liquid crystal imposes restrictions on possible deformations of the layer displacement field. Previous studies neglect this fact and give improper results for the interaction potential within one molecular layer. The present paper shows that such restrictions yield an interaction potential substantially different from those of previous studies. Oscillatory behavior, which was not present in the potentials of previous studies, might give rise to superstructures of immersed particles with finite interparticle distance.