Self-assembly of predesigned optical materials in nematic codispersions of plasmonic nanorods

Sheetah, Ghadah H.; Liu, Qingkun; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1364/ol.41.004899

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…By changing the geometry of nanoparticles and different kinds of LC materials (nematic and cholesteric LCs), the authors also showed that the switching time of the composite could be tuned from milliseconds to seconds and even the polarization of the transmitted light could be manipulated according to the application demands. Another solution, which was proposed by the same group, was co-dispersing different anisotropic nanoparticles in LCs [269]. The authors used gold nanorods with varying aspect ratios in a nematic LC host (5CB).…”

Section: Photonic Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives in Liquid-Crystal-Aided Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

2019

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The research field of liquid crystals and their applications is recently changing from being largely focused on display applications and optical shutter elements in various fields, to quite novel and diverse applications in the area of nanotechnology and nanoscience. Functional nanoparticles have recently been used to a significant extent to modify the physical properties of liquid crystals by the addition of ferroelectric and magnetic particles of different shapes, such as arbitrary and spherical, rods, wires and discs. Also, particles influencing optical properties are increasingly popular, such as quantum dots, plasmonic, semiconductors and metamaterials. The self-organization of liquid crystals is exploited to order templates and orient nanoparticles. Similarly, nanoparticles such as rods, nanotubes and graphene oxide are shown to form lyotropic liquid crystal phases in the presence of isotropic host solvents. These effects lead to a wealth of novel applications, many of which will be reviewed in this publication. the observation of chirality from achiral molecules, resulting from sterically induced packing of the bent-core mesogens [10], such as ferroelectricity or the formation of helical superstructures in the B7 phase [14]. Thermotropic LCs are commonly constituted by single organic entities or mixtures thereof, which exhibit various mesophases at different temperatures or pressures [15], illustrated in Figure 1b. As the temperature rises, a typical thermotropic LC passes through higher ordered phases, also called soft crystals, the hexatic smectic phases with positional order as well as bond orientational order, through the fluid smectic phases (SmC and SmA), which exhibit both positional and orientational order, and finally to the nematic phase (N) with purely orientational order, into the isotropic phase. The number of different phases observed depends on the chemical composition, symmetry and order of the LC molecules. About 25 different thermotropic phases are known to date, and they are still increasing in number. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 47 unique effects of the observation of chirality from achiral molecules, resulting from sterically induced packing of the bent-core mesogens [10], such as ferroelectricity or the formation of helical superstructures in the B7 phase [14]. Thermotropic LCs are commonly constituted by single organic entities or mixtures thereof, which exhibit various mesophases at different temperatures or pressures [15], illustrated in Figure 1b. As the temperature rises, a typical thermotropic LC passes through higher ordered phases, also called soft crystals, the hexatic smectic phases with positional order as well as bond orientational order, through the fluid smectic phases (SmC and SmA), which exhibit both positional and orientational order, and finally to the nematic phase (N) with purely orientational order, into the isotropic phase. The number of different phases observed depends on the chemical composition, symmetry and order of the LC molecules. About...

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Section: Photonic Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perspectives in Liquid-Crystal-Aided Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

2019

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“…Elastic trapping of nanoparticles in LC line defect. We used 40 x 65 nm GNRs (Figure 1), which were synthesized by following the seed-mediated method described in detail elsewhere [25][26][27] (See materials and methods). We also utilized commercially available CdSe/ZnS core-shell QDs (Ocean nanotech) shown in Figure 1e, which were selected for their emission peak at 620 nm.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning and Switching a Plasmonic Quantum Dot “Sandwich” in a Nematic Line Defect

Mundoor¹,

Sheetah²,

Park³

et al. 2018

ACS Nano

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We study the quantum-mechanical effects arising in a single semiconductor core/shell quantum dot (QD) controllably sandwiched between two plasmonic nanorods. Control over the position and the "sandwich" confinement structure is achieved by the use of a linear-trap liquid crystal (LC) line defect and laser tweezers that "push" the sandwich together. This arrangement allows for the study of exciton-plasmon interactions in a single structure, unaltered by ensemble effects or the complexity of dielectric interfaces. We demonstrate the effect of plasmonic confinement on the photon antibunching behavior of the QD and its luminescence lifetime. The QD behaves as a single emitter when nanorods are far away from the QD but shows possible multiexciton emission and a significantly decreased lifetime when tightly confined in a plasmonic "sandwich". These findings demonstrate that LC defects, combined with laser tweezers, enable a versatile platform to study plasmonic coupling phenomena in a nanoscale laboratory, where all elements can be arranged almost at will.

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“…1(a)-(c)). GNRs with the longitudinal SPR peak at 815 nm were surface-functionalized with thiol-terminated methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG-SH 5kDa, JemKem Technology) [10]. For some GNRs, porous silica shells were grown around the nanoparticles ( Fig.…”

Section: Methods and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electric switching of visible and infrared transmission using liquid crystals co-doped with plasmonic gold nanorods and dichroic dyes

Sheetah¹,

Liu²,

Senyuk³

et al. 2018

Opt. Express

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Smart windows and many other applications require synchronous or alternating facile electric switching of transmitted light intensity in visible and near infrared spectral ranges, but most electrochromic devices suffer from slow, nonuniform switching, high power consumption and limited options for designing spectral characteristics. Here we develop a guest-host mesostructured composite with rod-like dye molecules and plasmonic nanorods spontaneously aligned either parallel or orthogonally to the director of the liquid crystal host. This composite material enables fast, low-voltage electric switching of electromagnetic radiation in visible and infrared ranges, which can be customized depending on the needs of applications, like climate-dependent optimal solar gain control in smart windows.

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Self-assembly of predesigned optical materials in nematic codispersions of plasmonic nanorods

Cited by 22 publications

References 13 publications

Perspectives in Liquid-Crystal-Aided Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

Perspectives in Liquid-Crystal-Aided Nanotechnology and Nanoscience

Tuning and Switching a Plasmonic Quantum Dot “Sandwich” in a Nematic Line Defect

Electric switching of visible and infrared transmission using liquid crystals co-doped with plasmonic gold nanorods and dichroic dyes

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