Novel Trends in Lyotropic Liquid Crystals

We introduce and shortly summarize a variety of more recent aspects of lyotropic liquid crystals (LLCs), which have drawn the attention of the liquid crystal and soft matter community and have recently led to an increasing number of groups studying this fascinating class of materials, alongside their normal activities in thermotopic LCs. The diversity of topics ranges from amphiphilic to inorganic liquid crystals, clays and biological liquid crystals, such as viruses, cellulose or DNA, to strongly anisotropic materials such as nanotubes, nanowires or graphene oxide dispersed in isotropic solvents. We conclude our admittedly somewhat subjective overview with materials exhibiting some fascinating properties, such as chromonics, ferroelectric lyotropics and active liquid crystals and living lyotropics, before we point out some possible and emerging applications of a class of materials that has long been standing in the shadow of the well-known applications of thermotropic liquid crystals, namely displays and electro-optic devices.

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Lyotropic Liquid Crystals from Colloidal Suspensions of Graphene Oxide

Crystals ◽

10.3390/cryst9090455 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 455 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adam P. Draude ◽

Ingo Dierking

Keyword(s):

Carbon Nanotubes ◽

Graphene Oxide ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Liquid Crystalline ◽

Colloidal Particles ◽

Colloidal Suspensions ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Nanoscience And Nanotechnology ◽

And Behavior

Lyotropic liquid crystals from colloidal particles have been known for more than a century, but have attracted a revived interest over the last few years. This is due to the developments in nanoscience and nanotechnology, where the liquid crystal order can be exploited to orient and reorient the anisotropic colloids, thus enabling, increasing and switching the preferential properties of the nanoparticles. In particular, carbon-based colloids like carbon nanotubes and graphene/graphene–oxide have increasingly been studied with respect to their lyotropic liquid crystalline properties over the recent years. We critically review aspects of lyotropic graphene oxide liquid crystal with respect to properties and behavior which seem to be generally established, but also discuss those effects that are largely unfamiliar so far, or as of yet of controversial experimental or theoretical outcome.

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Aligning lyotropic liquid crystals with unconventional organic layers

Photonics Letters of Poland ◽

10.4302/plp.v9i1.701 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Eva Otón ◽

Morten Andreas Geday ◽

Caterina Maria Tone ◽

José Manuel Otón ◽

Xabier Quintana

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Chem Phys ◽

Water Soluble ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Sunset Yellow ◽

Lab On Chip ◽

Wide Range ◽

Homeotropic Alignment ◽

Alignment Layers

Lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLC) are a kind of LCs far less known and more difficult to control than conventional thermotropic nematics. Nevertheless, LCLCs are a preferred option -often the only one- for applications where hydrophilic materials must be employed. Being water-soluble, LCLC can be used in numerous biology related devices, for example in target detection in lab-on-chip devices. However, their properties and procedures to align them are still less explored, with only a very limited number of options available, especially for homeotropic alignment. In this work, novel organic alignment layers and alignment properties have been explored for selected LCLCs. Non-conventional organic alignment layers were tested and new suitable procedures and materials for both homogeneous and homeotropic alignments have been found. Full Text: PDF ReferencesS.L. Hefinstine, O.D. Lavrentovich, C.J. Woolverton, "Lyotropic liquid crystal as a real-time detector of microbial immune complexes", Lett. Appl. Microbiol. 43, 27 (2006). CrossRef M.A. Geday, M. Ca-o-García, J.M. Escolano, E. Otón, J.M. Otón, X. Quintana, Conference on Liquid Crystals CLC'16, Poland (2016).M.A. Geday, E. Otón, J.M. Escolano, J.M. Otón, X. Quintana, Patent WO 2015193525 (2015). DirectLink Yu.A. Nastishin et al., "Optical characterization of the nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals: Light absorption, birefringence, and scalar order parameter", Phys. Rev. E, 72 (4) 41711 (2005). CrossRef A. Mcguire, et al., "Orthogonal Orientation of Chromonic Liquid Crystals by Rubbed Polyamide Films", Chem. Phys. Chem. 15 (7) (2014). CrossRef J. Jeong, et al., "Homeotropic Alignment of Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals Using Noncovalent Interactions", Langmuir 30(10) 2914 (2014). CrossRef J.Y. Kim, H.-Tae Jung, "Macroscopic alignment of chromonic liquid crystals using patterned substrates", Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 18, 10362 (2016). CrossRef E. Otón, J.M. Escolano, X. Quintana, J.M. Otón, M.A. Geday, "Aligning lyotropic liquid crystals with silicon oxides", Liq. Cryst. 42 (8) 1069 (2015). CrossRef H.S. Park, et al., "Condensation of Self-Assembled Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystal Sunset Yellow in Aqueous Solutions Crowded with Polyethylene Glycol and Doped with Salt", Langmuir 27, 4164 (2011). CrossRef H.S. Park, et al., "Self-Assembly of Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystal Sunset Yellow and Effects of Ionic Additives", J. Phys. Chem. B 112, 16307 (2008). CrossRef R Caputo et al., "POLICRYPS: a liquid crystal composed nano/microstructure with a wide range of optical and electro-optical applications", J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 11, 024017 (2009). CrossRef

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Fabrication and Characterizes of TiO2 Nanomaterials Templated by Lyotropic Liquid Crystal

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.399-401.532 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 399-401 ◽

pp. 532-537

Author(s):

Li Hua Liu ◽

Ying Bai ◽

Fu Min Wang ◽

Ning Liu

Keyword(s):

Aqueous Solution ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Nonionic Surfactant ◽

Formation Mechanism ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystal ◽

Micro Structure ◽

Ft Ir ◽

Rod Structures

TiO2 nanomaterials were synthesized in lyotropic liquid crystal formed by nonionic surfactant TritonX-100 and TiOSO4 aqueous solution with NH3•H2O as precipitator. The lyotropic liquid crystals were characterized by means of POM and Low-angle XRD. FT-IR, TGA, XRD, TEM were used to characterize the TiO2 samples. It was found that all the lytropic liquid crystal were in lamellar liquid crysal phase and after casting the micro-structure of the LLC phase, the TiO2 samples were self-assemble to form lamellar, sphere and rod structures. According to the characterization results, possible formation mechanism was proposed.

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Microphase-separated multicontinuous phase in low-molecular-mass thermotropic liquid crystals

Pure and Applied Chemistry ◽

10.1351/pac-con-08-09-10 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 81 (10) ◽

pp. 1783-1798 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kazuya Saito

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystals ◽

Thermodynamic Potential ◽

Alkyl Chain ◽

Configurational Entropy ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Chemical Thermodynamics ◽

Molecular Core ◽

Thermotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Simple Systems ◽

Insight Into

Extensive application of chemical thermodynamics to exotic aggregation formed in thermotropic liquid crystals is briefly described. Through thermodynamic analyses and considerations of experimental results on liquid crystals, the unexpected sharing of common properties by thermo- and lyotropic liquid crystals is demonstrated. In some thermotropic liquid crystals, the terminal alkyl chain attached to the molecular core is highly disordered, as indicated by the magnitude of configurational entropy. The molten chain serves as intramolecular solvent (self-solvent), as evidenced by the close similarity between phase diagrams against chain length and composition in the binary system with n-alkane. These facts lead to the quasi-binary picture of thermotropic liquid crystals. Consideration of the thermodynamic potential expanded in terms of density fluctuation gives a new insight into the multicontinuous phases formed in simple systems consisting of anisotropic, rodlike particles.

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Enhancement of Birefringence in Reduced Graphene Oxide Doped Liquid Crystal

Nanomaterials ◽

10.3390/nano10050842 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 842 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mareddi Bharath Kumar ◽

Mohammad Awwal Adeshina ◽

Daekyung Kang ◽

Youngho Jee ◽

Taewan Kim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Graphene Oxide ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Reduced Graphene Oxide ◽

Photoelectron Spectroscopy ◽

Transmission Measurement ◽

Scanning Calorimetry ◽

Polarized Microscopy ◽

Electro Optic ◽

Reduced Graphene ◽

5Cb Liquid Crystal

We investigated the effect of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) doping on the birefringence of 5CB liquid crystal (LC). The characteristics of the synthesized rGO and LC-rGO composite with different rGO concentrations were analyzed by atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, white light polarized microscopy, voltage-dependent transmission measurement, and differential scanning calorimetry. We found that doping LC with an appropriate concentration of rGO enhances the birefringence of the LC. This is mainly due to the improved anisotropy of polarizability, which stems from the high shape anisotropy of rGO. However, the aggregation of rGO reduces the birefringence by decreasing the anisotropy of polarizability as well as the order parameter. Our study shows the promising potential of LC-rGO for developing various electro-optic devices that offer improved electro-optic effects.

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A pirfenidone loaded spray dressing based on lyotropic liquid crystals for deep partial thickness burn treatment: healing promotion and scar prophylaxis

Journal of Materials Chemistry B ◽

10.1039/c9tb02929j ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (13) ◽

pp. 2573-2588 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jintian Chen ◽

Hui Wang ◽

Liling Mei ◽

Bei Wang ◽

Ying Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wound Healing ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystal ◽

Burn Treatment ◽

Partial Thickness ◽

Partial Thickness Burn

This study develops a HA combined lyotropic liquid crystal based spray dressing loaded with pirfenidone for wound healing and scar prophylaxis.

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Plenary Lecture. One hundred years of liquid-crystal chemistry: Thermotropic liquid crystals with conventional and unconventional molecular structure

Liquid Crystals ◽

10.1080/02678298908026353 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 75-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 245

Author(s):

D. Demus

Keyword(s):

Molecular Structure ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Crystal Chemistry ◽

Plenary Lecture ◽

Thermotropic Liquid Crystals

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Liquid crystal/glass interface effects on the orientation of lyotropic liquid crystals in magnetic fields

Canadian Journal of Chemistry ◽

10.1139/v78-356 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 56 (16) ◽

pp. 2178-2183 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Fred Y. Fujiwara ◽

Leonard W. Reeves

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Cylindrical Tube ◽

Lyotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Crystal Glass ◽

Type I ◽

Type Ii ◽

Glass Interface ◽

Interface Effects

Lyotropic mesophases of both positive (type I) and negative (type II) diamagnetic anisotropy have been prepared. The deuterium magnetic resonance signal from D2O in the sample bas been studied during the process of orientation in a magnetic field. A type II mesophase oriented by a magnetic field in a cylindrical tube perpendicular to the lines of force does not achieve a uniform distribution of directors in a plane perpendicular to the field. The re orientation of a type I mesophase after an initial displacement of the director at an angle to the field has been studied. Previous equations derived for thermotropic liquid crystals are applicable but the velocity of re-orientation was found to be an inverse function of the radius, for nmr tubes of less than 4 mm in diameter, indicating that liquid crystal/glass interface effects are important.

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Liquid Crystals Templating

Crystals ◽

10.3390/cryst10080648 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 648 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mamatha Nagaraj

Keyword(s):

Liquid Crystal ◽

Liquid Crystals ◽

Inorganic Materials ◽

The Self ◽

Thermotropic Liquid Crystals ◽

Versatile Technique ◽

Crystal Phases ◽

Nanoscale Features ◽

Mesoporous Membranes ◽

Liquid Crystal Templating

Liquid crystal templating is a versatile technique to create novel organic and inorganic materials with nanoscale features. It exploits the self-assembled architectures of liquid crystal phases as scaffolds. This article focuses on some of the key developments in lyotropic and thermotropic liquid crystals templating. The procedures that were employed to create templated structures and the applications of these novel materials in various fields including mesoporous membranes, organic electronics, the synthesis of nanostructured materials and photonics, are described.

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