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Updated: Jul 28, 2025
12:21
Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
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Energy landscapes on polymerized liquid crystal interfaces.
Rachel S Hendley1, Eugenie Jumai'an1, Hector A Fuster2
1Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. mabevan@jhu.edu.
Soft Matter
|May 30, 2023
Summary
Researchers mapped colloidal probe interactions with liquid crystal surfaces, revealing energy landscapes at topological defects. This work enables designing materials for colloidal assembly using van der Waals forces.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Soft Matter Physics
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Colloidal probes interact with polymerized liquid crystal (PLC) surfaces.
- Topological defects in PLC surfaces influence local nematic director profiles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure and model the interfacial energy landscapes of PLC surfaces interacting with colloidal probes.
- To correlate particle density profiles with PLC optical properties at topological defects.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing diffusing colloidal probes to probe PLC surfaces.
- Applying inverse Monte Carlo analysis to particle concentration profiles.
- Modeling energy landscapes using macromolecular repulsion and van der Waals attraction.
Main Results:
- Observed time-averaged particle density profiles correlating with PLC optical properties at defects.
- Derived 2D PLC interfacial energy landscapes on the kT-scale.
- Found van der Waals landscapes correlate well with experimental PLC director profiles.
Conclusions:
- Demonstrated sensitive measurement of kT-scale van der Waals energy landscapes at PLC defects.
- Suggests potential for designing anisotropic materials and energy landscapes for colloidal assembly.
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