Chemically Functionalized Gold Nanosphere-Blended Nematic Liquid Crystals for Photonic Applications

A demand for functional materials that are capable of tailoring light-emissive properties has apparently been rising nowadays substantially for their utilization in organic optoelectronic devices. Motivated by such promising characteristics, we present highly emissive as well as aggregation-induced emission (AIE) electroluminescent composite systems composed of a nematic liquid crystals (NLC) blended with polyethylene-functionalized gold nanospheres (GNSs). The major findings of this study include superior electro-optical properties such as threshold voltage reduction by around 24%. The fall time is reduced by 11.50, 30.33, 49.33, and 63.17% respectively, and rotational viscosity is reduced by 13.86, 32.77, 36.97, and 49.58% for 5.0 × 10¹¹, 5.0 × 10¹², 2.5 × 10¹³, and 5.0 × 10¹³ number of GNS-blended liquid crystal (LC) cells. The increased UV absorbance and greatly enhanced luminescence properties have been attributed to surface plasmon resonance near the surface of GNSs and AIE effect risen due to agglomeration of the capping agent with the NLC molecules respectively, and these characteristics make them suitable for new-age display applications.