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Liquid crystal droplets formation and stabilization during phase transition process |
| Xia Meng(孟霞)1, Jiayao Ye(叶家耀)1, Ao Li(李澳)1, Xudong Zhu(朱徐栋)1, Zhaoyan Yang(杨朝雁)1, Lei Wang(王磊)1,2,†, Bingxiang Li(李炳祥)1,‡, and Yanqing Lu(陆延青)2 |
1 College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Flexible Electronics (Future Technology), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China;
2 National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China |
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Abstract The study of phase transition processes in liquid crystals (LCs) remains challenging. Most thermotropic LCs exhibit a narrow temperature range and a rapid phase transition from the isotropic (ISO) to the nematic (N) phase, which make it difficult to capture and manipulate the phase transition process. In this study, we observed the evolution of small droplets during the ISO-N phase transition in ferroelectric nematic (N$_{\rm F}$) LC RM734. After doping with metal nanoparticles (NPs), the temperature range of the phase transition broadened, and the droplets formed during the phase transition remained stable, with their diameter increasing linearly with temperature. In addition, droplets doped with NPs can be well controlled by an external electric field. This discovery not only aids in understanding the fundamental mechanisms of LC phase transitions but also provides a simple alternative method for preparing droplets, which is potentially valuable for applications in optoelectronic devices and sensors.
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Received: 15 July 2024
Revised: 18 August 2024
Accepted manuscript online: 14 September 2024
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PACS:
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61.30.-v
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(Liquid crystals)
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61.30.Pq
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(Microconfined liquid crystals: droplets, cylinders, randomly confined liquid crystals, polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and porous systems)
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64.70.M-
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(Transitions in liquid crystals)
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61.46.-w
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(Structure of nanoscale materials)
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| Fund: Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFA1405000), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20211277), the Frontier Leading Technology Basic Research Project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20212004), the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYCX23 0971), and the Natural Science Foundation of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Grant No. NY223087). |
Corresponding Authors:
Lei Wang, Bingxiang Li
E-mail: wangl@njupt.edu.cn;bxli@njupt.edu.cn
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Cite this article:
Xia Meng(孟霞), Jiayao Ye(叶家耀), Ao Li(李澳), Xudong Zhu(朱徐栋), Zhaoyan Yang(杨朝雁), Lei Wang(王磊), Bingxiang Li(李炳祥), and Yanqing Lu(陆延青) Liquid crystal droplets formation and stabilization during phase transition process 2024 Chin. Phys. B 33 116101
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