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This online Debye Lunch Lecture, Shaping nanoparticle assemblies with liquid crystals, will be given by dr. Lisa Tran from Debye's Soft Condensed Matter & Biophysics research group.

Abstract

Liquid crystals are ubiquitous in modern society. These materials are the basis of the modern display industry because of their unique properties. They can be manipulated with electric fields, can alter light, and are elastic fluids --- all properties that allow for liquid crystals to be engineered into a pixel. Despite advances in their technological applications, the structures formed by liquid crystals are yet to be completely understood. Since liquid crystal molecules tend to order with one another, they can respond to geometrical confinement. Geometrical constraints can create patterns and defects – localized, "melted" areas of disorder that reduce system distortion and can drive the assembly of inclusions.

I will present recent work in which defects are controlled by using microfluidics to create liquid crystal double emulsion droplets – confining the liquid crystal into spherical shells. Molecular configurations are controlled by the topology and geometry of the system and by varying the concentration of surfactants. Defect structures are examined through experiments and simulations. I will present recent work where nanoparticles are used in place of traditional surfactants to pattern them at the liquid crystal-water interface. This work opens up fundamental questions about the roles of bulk elasticity, surface forces, and chemical interactions in interfacial assembly and has the potential to dynamically template nanomaterials for the enhancement of liquid crystal-based optical devices and sensors. I will end by discussing future work I will pursue within the Debye Institute, of nanoparticles within and as liquid crystals.