Liquid Crystal Colloids
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2 a Primer on Polymer Colloids: Structure, Synthesis and Colloidal Stability
A. Al Shboul, F. Pierre, and J. P. Claverie 2 A primer on polymer colloids: structure, synthesis and colloidal stability 2.1 Introduction A colloid is a dispersion of very fine objects in a fluid [1]. These objects can be solids, liquids or gas, and the corresponding colloidal dispersion is then referred to as sus- pension, emulsion or foam. Colloids possess unique characteristics. For example, as their size is smaller than the wavelength of light, they scatter light. They also offer a large interfacial surface area, meaning that interfacial phenomena are of paramount importance in these dispersions. The weight of each dispersed particle being small, gravity and buoyancy forces are not sufficient to counteract the thermal random mo- tion of the particle, named Brownian motion (in tribute to the 19th century botanist Robert Brown who first characterized it). The particles do not remain in a dispersed state indefinitely: they will sooner or later aggregate (phase separation). Thus, thecol- loidal state is in general metastable and colloidal stability is one of the key features to take into account when working with colloids. Among all colloids, the polymer colloid family is one of the most widely inves- tigated [2]. Polymer colloids are used for a large number of applications, ranging from coatings, adhesives, inks, impact modifiers, drug-delivery vehicles, etc. The particles range in size from about 10 nm to 1 000 nm (1 μm) in diameter. They are usually spherical, but numerous other shapes have been observed. Polymer colloids are not uncommon in nature. For example, natural rubber latex, the secretion of the Hevea brasiliensis tree, is in fact a dispersion of polyisoprene nanoparticles in wa- ter. -
4. Fabrication of Polymer-Immobilized Colloidal Crystal Films (851Kb)
R&D Review of Toyota CRDL, Vol.45 No.1 (2014) 17- 22 17 Special Feature: Applied Nanoscale Morphology Research Report Fabrication of Polymer-immobilized Colloidal Crystal Films Masahiko Ishii Report received on Feb. 28, 2014 A fabrication method for polymer-immobilized colloidal crystal fi lms using conventional spray coating has been developed for application of the fi lms as practical colored materials. By controlling both the viscosity of the silica sphere-acrylic monomer dispersions and the wettability of the substrates, colloidal crystalline fi lms with brilliant iridescent colors were successfully obtained by spray coating and UV curing. The color could be controlled by adjusting both the sphere concentration and diameter. Scanning electron microscopy was applied to study the crystal structure of the coated fi lms, and revealed that the fi lms are composed of highly oriented face-centered-cubic grains with (111) planes parallel to the substrate surface. A method for utilizing the colloidal crystal fi lms as pigments was also proposed. Flakes obtained by crushing the colloidal crystal coated fi lms were added to a commercial clear paint and coated on a substrate. The coated fi lms exhibited iridescent colors that varies with viewing angle. Colloidal Crystal, Self-assembly, Silica, Polymeric Material, Spray Coating 1. Introduction arrays of monodispersed sub-micrometer sized spheres. They exhibit iridescent colors due to Bragg diffraction Jewels such as diamonds and rubies are beautiful, of visible light when they have a periodicity on the attracting the attention of people worldwide. Most of scale of the wavelength of the light. The most common these are natural minerals with crystalline structures. -
Colloidal Crystals with a 3D Photonic Bandgap
Part I General Introduction I.1 Photonic Crystals A photonic crystal (PC) is a regularly structured material, with feature sizes on the order of a wavelength (or smaller), that exhibits strong interaction with light.1-3 The main concept behind photonic crystals is the formation of a 'photonic band gap'. For a certain range of frequencies, electromagnetic waves are diffracted by the periodic modulations in the dielectric constant of the PC forming (directional) stop bands. If the stop bands are wide enough to overlap for both polarization states along all crystal directions, the material is said to possess a complete photonic band gap (CPBG). In such a crystal, propagation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies lying within the gap is forbidden irrespective of their direction of propagation and polarization.1,2 This leads to the possibility to control the spontaneous emission of light. For example, an excited atom embedded in a PC will not be able to make a transition to a lower energy state as readily if the frequency of the emitted photon lies within the band gap, hence increasing the lifetime of the excited state.1,2 Photonic crystals with a (directional) stop gap can also have a significant effect on the spontaneous-emission rate.4 If a defect or mistake in the periodicity is introduced in the otherwise perfect crystal, localized photonic states in the gap will be created. A point defect could act like a microcavity, a line defect like a wave-guide, and a planar defect like a planar wave-guide. By introducing defects, light can be localized or guided along the defects modes.1,2 1 2 a b Figure I.1–1 Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a face-centered-cubic (fcc) colloidal crystal of closed-packed silica spheres (R = 110 nm). -
The Elastic Constants of a Nematic Liquid Crystal
The Elastic Constants of a Nematic Liquid Crystal Hans Gruler Gordon McKay Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 02138, U.S.A. (Z. Naturforsch. 30 a, 230-234 [1975] ; received November 4, 1974) The elastic constants of a nematic liquid and of a solid crystal were derived by comparing the Gibbs free energy with the elastic energy. The expressions for the elastic constants of the nematic and the solid crystal are isomorphic: k oc | D | /1. In the nematic phase | D | and I are the mean field energy and the molecular length. In the solid crystal, | D | and I correspond to the curvature of the potential and to the lattice constant, respectively. The measured nematic elastic constants show the predicted I dependence. 1. Introduction The mean field of the nematic phase was first derived by Maier and Saupe 3: The symmetry of a crystal determines the number D(0,P2) = -(A/Vn2)P2-P2±... (2) of non-vanishing elastic constants. In a nematic liquid crystal which is a uniaxial crystal, we find five 0 is the angle between the length axis of one mole- elastic constants but only three describe bulk pro- cule and the direction of the preferred axis (optical perties 2. Here we calculate the magnitude of these axis). P2 is the second Legendre polynomial and three elastic constants by determining the elastic P2 is one order parameter given by the distribution function f{0): energy density in two different ways. On the one hand the elastic energy density can be expressed by the elastic constants and the curvature of the optical p2 = Tf (@) Po sin e d e/tf (&) sin e d 0 . -
Colloidal Crystal: Emergence of Long Range Order from Colloidal Fluid
Colloidal Crystal: emergence of long range order from colloidal fluid Lanfang Li December 19, 2008 Abstract Although emergence, or spontaneous symmetry breaking, has been a topic of discussion in physics for decades, they have not entered the set of terminologies for materials scientists, although many phenomena in materials science are of the nature of emergence, especially soft materials. In a typical soft material, colloidal suspension system, a long range order can emerge due to the interaction of a large number of particles. This essay will first introduce interparticle interactions in colloidal systems, and then proceed to discuss the emergence of order, colloidal crystals, and finally provide an example of applications of colloidal crystals in light of conventional molecular crystals. 1 1 Background and Introduction Although emergence, or spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the resultant collective behav- ior of the systems constituents, have manifested in many systems, such as superconductivity, superfluidity, ferromagnetism, etc, and are well accepted, maybe even trivial crystallinity. All of these phenonema, though they may look very different, share the same fundamental signature: that the property of the system can not be predicted from the microscopic rules but are, \in a real sense, independent of them. [1] Besides these emergent phenonema in hard condensed matter physics, in which the interaction is at atomic level, interactions at mesoscale, soft will also lead to emergent phenemena. Colloidal systems is such a mesoscale and soft system. This size scale is especially interesting: it is close to biogical system so it is extremely informative for understanding life related phenomena, where emergence is origin of life itself; it is within visible light wavelength, so that it provides a model system for atomic system with similar physics but probable by optical microscope. -
In Situ X-Ray Crystallographic Study of the Structural Evolution of Colloidal Crystals Upon Heating
X-ray diffraction and imaging Journal of Applied In situ X-ray crystallographic study of the structural Crystallography evolution of colloidal crystals upon heating ISSN 0021-8898 A. V. Zozulya,a* J.-M. Meijer,b A. Shabalin,a A. Ricci,a F. Westermeier,a R. P. Received 2 November 2012 Kurta,a U. Lorenz,a A. Singer,a O. Yefanov,c A. V. Petukhov,b M. Sprunga and Accepted 6 February 2013 I. A. Vartanyantsa,d aDeutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Notkestrasse 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany, bVan ’t Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands, cCenter for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, D-22607 Hamburg, Germany, and dNational Research Nuclear University ‘MEPhI’, 115409 Moscow, Russian Federation. Correspondence e-mail: [email protected] The structural evolution of colloidal crystals made of polystyrene hard spheres has been studied in situ upon incremental heating of a crystal in a temperature range below and above the glass transition temperature of polystyrene. Thin films of colloidal crystals having different particle sizes were studied in transmission geometry using a high-resolution small-angle X-ray scattering setup at the P10 Coherence Beamline of the PETRA III synchrotron facility. The transformation of colloidal crystals to a melted state has been observed in a narrow temperature interval of less than 10 K. 1. Introduction not well studied, although it has important technological Colloidal crystals are close-packed self-assembled arrange- aspects regarding the tolerable temperature range of a ments of monodisperse colloidal particles of sub-micrometre photonic device. -
Liquid Crystals
www.scifun.org LIQUID CRYSTALS To those who know that substances can exist in three states, solid, liquid, and gas, the term “liquid crystal” may be puzzling. How can a liquid be crystalline? However, “liquid crystal” is an accurate description of both the observed state transitions of many substances and the arrangement of molecules in some states of these substances. Many substances can exist in more than one state. For example, water can exist as a solid (ice), liquid, or gas (water vapor). The state of water depends on its temperature. Below 0̊C, water is a solid. As the temperature rises above 0̊C, ice melts to liquid water. When the temperature rises above 100̊C, liquid water vaporizes completely. Some substances can exist in states other than solid, liquid, and vapor. For example, cholesterol myristate (a derivative of cholesterol) is a crystalline solid below 71̊C. When the solid is warmed to 71̊C, it turns into a cloudy liquid. When the cloudy liquid is heated to 86̊C, it becomes a clear liquid. Cholesterol myristate changes from the solid state to an intermediate state (cloudy liquid) at 71̊C, and from the intermediate state to the liquid state at 86̊C. Because the intermediate state exits between the crystalline solid state and the liquid state, it has been called the liquid crystal state. Figure 1. Arrangement of Figure 2. Arrangement of Figure 3. Arrangement of molecules in a solid crystal. molecules in a liquid. molecules in a liquid crystal. “Liquid crystal” also accurately describes the arrangement of molecules in this state. In the crystalline solid state, as represented in Figure 1, the arrangement of molecules is regular, with a regularly repeating pattern in all directions. -
Liquid Crystals - the 'Fourth' Phase of Matter
GENERAL I ARTICLE Liquid Crystals - The 'Fourth' Phase of Matter Shruti Mohanty The remarkable physical properties of liquid crystals have been exploited for many uses in the electronics industry_ This article summarizes the physics of these beautiful and I • complex states of matter and explains the working of a liquid crystal display. Shruti Mohanty has worked What are Liquid Crystals? on 'thin film physics of free standing banana liquid The term 'liquid crystal' is both intriguing and confusing; while crystal films' as a summer it appears self-contradictory, the designation really is an attempt student at RRI, Bangalore. to describe a particular state of matter of great importance She is currently pursuing her PhD in Applied Physics today, both scientifically and technologically. TJ!e[:w:odynamic at Yale University, USA. phases of condensed matter with a degree of order intermediate Her work is on supercon between that of the crystalline solid and the simple liquid are ductivity, particularly on called liquid crystals or mesophases. They occutliS Stable phases superconducting tunnel 'junctions and their for many compounds; in fact one out of approximately two applications. hundred synthesized organic compounds is a liquid crystalline material. The typical liquid crystal is highly ani'sotropic - in some cases simply an anisotropic liquid, in other cases solid-like in some directions. Liquid-crystal physics, although a field in itself, is often in cluded in the larger area called 'soft matter', including polymers, colloids, and surfactant solutions, all of which are highly de formable materials. This property leads to many unique and exciting phenomena not seen in ordinary condensed phases, and possibilities of novel technological applications. -
Strange Elasticity of Liquid Crystal Rubber: Critical Phase
Strange elasticity of liquid-crystal rubber University of Colorado Boulder $ NSF-MRSEC, Materials Theory, Packard Foundation UMass, April 2011 Outline • Diversity of phases in nature! • Liquid-crystals! • Rubber! • Liquid-crystal elastomers! • Phenomenology! • Theory (with Xing, Lubensky, Mukhopadhyay)! • Challenges and future directions! “White lies” about phases of condensed matter T P States of condensed matter in nature • magnets, superconductors, superfluids, liquid crystals, rubber, ! colloids, glasses, conductors, insulators,… ! Reinitzer 1886 (nematic, Blue phase) Liquid Crystals … T crystal … smectic-C smectic-A nematic isotropic cholesteric smectic layer vortex lines pitch fluctuations Reinitzer 1886 (nematic, Blue phase) Liquid Crystals … T crystal … smectic-C smectic-A nematic isotropic cholesteric smectic layer vortex lines pitch fluctuations • Rich basic physics – critical phenomena, hydrodynamics, coarsening, topological defects, `toy` cosmology,… • Important applications – displays, switches, actuators, electronic ink, artificial muscle,… N. Clark Liquid-crystal beauty “Liquid crystals are beautiful and mysterious; I am fond of them for both reasons.” – P.-G. De Gennes! Chiral liquid crystals: cholesterics cholesteric pitch • color selective Bragg reflection from cholesteric planes • temperature tunable pitch à wavelength Bio-polymer liquid crystals: DNA M. Nakata, N. Clark, et al Nonconventional liquid crystals • electron liquid in semiconductors under strong B field! 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 half-filled high Landau levels! ν=4+½ • -
Colloidal Matter: Packing, Geometry, and Entropy Vinothan N
Colloidal matter: packing, geometry, and entropy Vinothan N. Manoharan Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138 USA This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science volume 349 on August 8, 2015. doi: 10.1126/science.1253751 The many dimensions of colloidal matter. The self-assembly of colloids can be controlled by changing the shape, topology, or patchiness of the particles, by introducing attractions between particles, or by constraining them to a curved surface. All of the assembly phenomena illustrated here can be understood from the interplay between entropy and geometrical constraints. Summary of this review article Background: Colloids consist of solid or liquid particles, each about a few hundred nanometers in size, dispersed in a fluid and kept suspended by thermal fluctuations. While natural colloids are the stuff of paint, milk, and glue, synthetic colloids with well-controlled size distributions and interactions are a model system for understanding phase transitions. These colloids can form crystals and other phases of matter seen in atomic and molecular systems, but because the particles are large enough to be seen under an optical microscope, the microscopic mechanisms of phase transitions can be directly observed. Furthermore, their ability to spontaneously form phases that are ordered on the scale of visible wavelengths makes colloids useful building blocks for optical materials such as photonic crystals. Because the interactions between particles can be altered and the effects on structure directly observed, experiments on colloids offer a controlled approach toward understanding and harnessing self-assembly, a fundamental topic in materials science, condensed matter physics, and biophysics. -
Evolution of Size and Shape in the Colloidal Crystallization of Gold Nanoparticles Owen C
Published on Web 06/06/2007 Evolution of Size and Shape in the Colloidal Crystallization of Gold Nanoparticles Owen C. Compton and Frank E. Osterloh* Contribution from the Department of Chemistry, UniVersity of California, DaVis, One Shields AVenue, DaVis, California 95161 Received December 17, 2006; E-mail: [email protected] Abstract: The addition of dodecanethiol to a solution of oleylamine-stabilized gold nanoparticles in chloroform leads to aggregation of nanoparticles and formation of colloidal crystals. Based on results from dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy we identify three different growth mechanisms: direct nanoparticle aggregation, cluster aggregation, and heterogeneous aggregation. These mechanisms produce amorphous, single-crystalline, polycrystalline, and core-shell type clusters. In the latter, gold nanoparticles encapsulate an impurity nucleus. All crystalline structures exhibit fcc or icosahedral packing and are terminated by (100) and (111) planes, which leads to truncated tetrahedral, octahedral, and icosahedral shapes. Importantly, most clusters in this system grow by aggregation of 60-80 nm structurally nonrigid clusters that form in the first 60 s of the experiment. The aggregation mechanism is discussed in terms of classical and other nucleation theories. Introduction and of its interfacial energy. Growth can only continue when Periodic arrangement of inorganic particles, or colloidal crystals have reached a critical nucleation size, beyond which crystals, continues to be of great academic -
Photonic Band Structure of Fcc Colloidal Crystals
VOLUME 76, NUMBER 2 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 8JANUARY 1996 Photonic Band Structure of fcc Colloidal Crystals I.˙ Inan¸˙ c Tarhan and George H. Watson Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 (Received 22 March 1995) Polystyrene colloidal crystals form three dimensional periodic dielectric structures which can be used for photonic band structure measurements in the visible regime. From transmission measurements the photonic band structure of an fcc crystal has been obtained along the directions between the L point and the W point. Kossel line patterns were used for locating the symmetry points of the lattice for exact positioning and orientation of the crystals. In addition, these patterns reveal the underlying photonic band structure of the crystals in a qualitative way. PACS numbers: 78.20.Ci, 42.50.–p, 81.10.Aj, 82.70.Dd For the last eight years, the analogy between the propa- not expected to exhibit large gaps because of the relatively gation of electromagnetic waves in periodic dielectric low index contrast, it does permit study of photonic band structures, dubbed photonic band gap (PBG) or photonic structure, as reported here. The lattice parameter of these crystals, and electron waves in atomic crystals has moti- self-organizing structures can be easily tailored, providing vated scientists to explore new possibilities in this field flexibility in designing photonic crystals for use in specific [1–5]. On account of the periodic modulations in dielec- spectral regions. tric constant in PBG crystals, with spatial periods designed Illumination of a single colloidal crystal by a monochro- to be on the order of a desired wavelength, electromag- matic laser beam can exhibit an interesting phenomenon: netic waves incident along a particular direction are dif- various dark rings and arcs (conic cross sections) superim- fracted for a certain range of frequencies, forming stop posed on a diffusely lit background form in both transmis- bands.