Liquid Crystals in Curved Confined Geometries: Microfluidics Bring New Capabilities for Photonic Applications and Beyond

Chen, Han-Qing; Wang, Xiyuan; Bisoyi, Hari Krishna; Chen, Lujian; Quan, Li Na

doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c00256

Cited by 70 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…Additionally, the channel wall surface should be treated to be effectively wetted by the continuous phase to ensure the stable formation of LC droplets [88]. Moreover, by manipulation of the fluids within the microchannels and the design of microfluidic structures, some interesting and complex structures of LC droplets can be fabricated [89][90][91][92][93][94]. For example, by controlling the viscosity and flow rate of the poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) continuous phase inside a co-flow geometry, Takanaka and coworkers prepared a necklace-like structure, in which PVA-stabilized LC droplets connected by thin tethers made up of PVA and LC in one step (Figure 5a) [93].…”

Section: Fabrication Methods For Monodisperse Lc Dropletsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Microfluidics in Liquid Crystal-Based Biosensors

2021

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Liquid crystals (LCs) with stimuli-responsive configuration transition and optical anisotropic properties have attracted enormous interest in the development of simple and label-free biosensors. The combination of microfluidics and the LCs offers great advantages over traditional LC-based biosensors including small sample consumption, fast analysis and low cost. Moreover, microfluidic techniques provide a promising tool to fabricate uniform and reproducible LC-based sensing platforms. In this review, we emphasize the recent development of microfluidics in the fabrication and integration of LC-based biosensors, including LC planar sensing platforms and LC droplets. Fabrication and integration of LC-based planar platforms with microfluidics for biosensing applications are first introduced. The generation and entrapment of monodisperse LC droplets with different microfluidic structures, as well as their applications in the detection of chemical and biological species, are then summarized. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives of the development of LC-based microfluidic biosensors are proposed. This review will promote the understanding of microfluidic techniques in LC-based biosensors and facilitate the development of LC-based microfluidic biosensing devices with high performance.

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Section: Fabrication Methods For Monodisperse Lc Dropletsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applications of Microfluidics in Liquid Crystal-Based Biosensors

2021

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“…While LCs are immensely popular for their application in flat panel displays, their special properties have been used in a number of other applications as well such as organic electronics, nanoparticle organization, LC colloids, LC elastomer actuators, and chemical and biological sensors. Apart from these, liquid crystals have also found utility in thin-film thermometers and switchable display windows ( Lagerwall and Scalia, 2012 ; Iino et al, 2015 ; Urbanski et al, 2017 ; Chen et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Self-assembly Into Mesogensmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in the Supramolecular Chemistry of Tetracoordinate Boron-Containing Organic Molecules into Organogels and Mesogens

2021

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Boron-containing organic compounds are well accepted as a class of compounds having excellent photophysical properties. In addition to the unique photophysical properties, the ease of synthesis and structural robustness make tetracoordinate boron complexes ideal for a variety of applications. While significant light has been thrown on their luminescence properties, there is no collective attention to their supramolecular chemistry. In this mini review, we discuss the progress made in the supramolecular chemistry of these compounds which includes their utility as building blocks for liquid crystalline materials and gels largely driven by various non-covalent interactions like H-bonding, CH-π interactions, BF-π interactions and Van der Waals forces. The organoboron compounds presented here are prepared from easy-to-synthesize chelating units such as imines, diiminates, ketoiminates and diketonates. Moreover, the presence of heteroatoms such as nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, and the presence of aromatic rings facilitate non-covalent interactions which not only favor their formation but also helps to stabilize the self-assembled structures.

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“…The microfluidic system is an experimental platform that integrates the processes of biological/chemical/medical/ environmental reactions, separation, and detection into a small chip with designed microchannels, called "lab on a chip", which has been extensively investigated and developed in many research fields. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] In microfluidic systems, a micro-flow pump that drives the controllable micro-flow is the core component and shows the greatest significance. [12][13][14] Among various driving mechanisms, electroosmotic pumps (EOP) are widely employed in microfluidic systems due to their advantages of easy fabrication, constant fluid velocity and high integratability compared with mechanical-pressure and thermal-gradient driven approaches.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mobile and Self‐Powered Micro‐Flow Pump Based on Triboelectricity Driven Electroosmosis

Sun

Zhang

et al. 2021

Advanced Materials

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Electroosmotic pumps have been widely used in microfluidic systems. However, traditional high‐voltage (HV)‐sources are bulky in size and induce numerous accessional reactions, which largely reduce the system's portability and efficiency. Herein, a motion‐controlled, highly efficient micro‐flow pump based on triboelectricity driven electroosmosis is reported. Utilizing the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), a strong electric field can be formed between two electrodes in the microfluidic channel with an electric double layer, thus driving the controllable electroosmotic flow by biomechanical movements. The performance and operation mechanism of this triboelectric electroosmotic pump (TEOP) is systematically studied and analyzed using a basic free‐standing mode TENG. The TEOP produces ≈600 nL min−1 micro‐flow with a Joule heat down to 1.76 J cm−3 nL−1 compared with ≈50 nL min−1 and 8.12 J cm−3 nL−1 for an HV‐source. The advantages of economy, efficiency, portability, and safety render the TEOP a more conducive option to achieve wider applications in motion‐activated micro/nanofluidic transportation and manipulation.

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Liquid Crystals in Curved Confined Geometries: Microfluidics Bring New Capabilities for Photonic Applications and Beyond

Cited by 70 publications

References 128 publications

Applications of Microfluidics in Liquid Crystal-Based Biosensors

Applications of Microfluidics in Liquid Crystal-Based Biosensors

Advances in the Supramolecular Chemistry of Tetracoordinate Boron-Containing Organic Molecules into Organogels and Mesogens

A Mobile and Self‐Powered Micro‐Flow Pump Based on Triboelectricity Driven Electroosmosis

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