Amplifying inorganic chirality using liquid crystals
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 11, 2025

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation
Published on: February 27, 2019
Mingjiang Zhang1, Yaxin Wang1, Yajie Zhou1
1Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. tzhuang@ustc.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Chiral inorganic nanostructures have drawn extensive attention thanks to their unique physical properties as well as multidisciplinary applications. Amplifying inorganic chirality using liquid crystals (LCs) is an efficient way to enhance the parented inorganic asymmetry owing to chirality transfer. Herein, the universal synthetic methods and structural characterizations of chiral inorganic-doped LC hybrids are introduced. Additionally, the current progress and status of recent experiment and theory research about chiral interactions between inorganic nanomaterials (e.g. metal, semiconductor, perovskite, and magnetic oxide) and LCs are summarized in this review. We further present representative applications of these new hybrids in the area of encryption, sensing, optics, etc. Finally, we provide perspectives on this field in terms of material variety, new synthesis, and future practice. It is envisaged that LCs will act as a pivotal part in the amplification of inorganic chirality with versatile applications.
Related Concept Videos
Chirality in Nature
Chirality
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Prochirality
Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds

