Director Configuration of Liquid-Crystal Droplets Encapsulated by Polyelectrolytes

    Authors

    J. H. Zou;J. Y. Fang

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Langmuir

    Keywords

    NEMATIC EMULSIONS; MANIPULATION; INTERFACES; STABILITY; SELECTION; SHAPE; SIZE; Chemistry, Multidisciplinary; Chemistry, Physical; Materials Science, ; Multidisciplinary

    Abstract

    Liquid-crystal 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (503) droplets dispersed in aqueous solution are prepared by the assembly of poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSH) and poly(styrenesulfonate sodium) (PSSNa) at the 5CB/water interlace. The micrometer sized PSSH-coated 5CB droplets in the space confinement formed by two parallel glass slides break up into submicrometer sized droplets under evaporation-induced flow. We find that the size reduction of the PSSH-coated droplets is accompanied by the bipolar-to-radial configuration transition of the 5CB in the droplets, while the PSSNa-coated 5CB droplets show no size-dependent configuration transition in the same size range. Our results suggest that the size-dependent director configuration of liquid-crystal droplets encapsulated by polyelectrolytes can he modulated by changing the interface conditions, which is important in designing liquid-crystal droplets for optical and biological applications.

    Journal Title

    Langmuir

    Volume

    26

    Issue/Number

    10

    Publication Date

    1-1-2010

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    7025

    Last Page

    7028

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000277398600024

    ISSN

    0743-7463

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