APS March Meeting 2024
Monday–Friday, March 4–8, 2024;
Minneapolis & Virtual
Session N00: Poster Session II (11:30am-2:30pm CST)
11:30 AM,
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Room: Hall BC
Sponsoring
Unit:
APS/SPS
Abstract: N00.00129 : Asymmetric Nanoparticle Interaction with Nematic Liquid Crystals
Abstract
Presenter:
Xiaowi Wang
(University of North Texas)
Author:
Xiaowi Wang
(University of North Texas)
Collaboration:
Dr. Xiao Li, Dr. Ying Bao, Teagan Hamlett
Liquid crystals (LC) have attracted a lot of attention due to their unique properties. Such as the discernible orientational ordering unveiled the coveted feature of anisotropic structure greatly popular within the display applications. Due to this feature, introducing particles into the LC system greatly demand in controlled soft matter applications, causing distortions in LC long-range order and shaping particle orientation. Extensive studies focused on spherical or geometric-dependent particles, size, surface anchoring, and LC elasticity while limited studies have investigated asymmetric shape particles. Additionally, Recent notably research on living liquid crystals observes controlled bacterial interactions, yet LC's biocompatibility limits understanding of bacterial shape or mobility's impact. In this study, we explore interactions involving synthetic asymmetric nanoparticles within an LC cell. The gold tadpole nanoparticles are introduced into the LC system to investigate the long-range-order defects and distortions. 5CB(4-Cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl) were originally mixed with nanoparticles in different diameter and tail length then injected into a planar and hybrid cell. Due to the LC's birefringence properties, a polarized microscope was used to track LC field deformations caused by these nanoparticles. Notably, the unique "butterfly" patterns emerged within the distorted LC due to the interaction between these asymmetric gold tadpole nanoparticles and 5CB. Additionally, the air bubble also detected trailing these particles across samples of various sizes and cell conditions. Consequently, These external variables can control the distorted LC field formation and influence the anisotropic motion of the tadpole particle