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research article

Reversible Microscale Assembly of Nanoparticles Driven by the Phase Transition of a Thermotropic Liquid Crystal

Mac Fhionnlaoich, Niamh
•
Schrettl, Stephen  
•
Tito, Nicholas B.
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May 24, 2023
Acs Nano

The arrangement of nanoscale building blocks into patternswithmicroscale periodicity is challenging to achieve via self-assemblyprocesses. Here, we report on the phase-transition-driven collectiveassembly of gold nanoparticles in a thermotropic liquid crystal. Atemperature-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phaseunder anchoring-driven planar alignment leads to the assembly of individualnanometer-sized particles into arrays of micrometer-sized agglomerates,whose size and characteristic spacing can be tuned by varying thecooling rate. Phase field simulations coupling the conserved and nonconservedorder parameters exhibit a similar evolution of the morphology asthe experimental observations. This fully reversible process offerscontrol over structural order on the microscopic level and is an interestingmodel system for the programmable and reconfigurable patterning ofnanocomposites with access to micrometer-sized periodicities.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acsnano.2c09203
Web of Science ID

WOS:001006446300001

Author(s)
Mac Fhionnlaoich, Niamh
Schrettl, Stephen  
Tito, Nicholas B.
Yang, Ye
Nair, Malavika
Serrano, Luis A.
Harkness, Kellen  
Silva, Paulo Jacob  
Frauenrath, Holger  
Serra, Francesca
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Date Issued

2023-05-24

Publisher

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Published in
Acs Nano
Volume

17

Issue

11

Start page

9906

End page

9918

Subjects

Chemistry, Multidisciplinary

•

Chemistry, Physical

•

Nanoscience & Nanotechnology

•

Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

•

Chemistry

•

Science & Technology - Other Topics

•

Materials Science

•

hierarchical

•

liquid crystals

•

nanoparticles

•

phase transition

•

self-assembly

•

soft matter

•

nematic colloidal crystals

•

gold nanoparticle

•

alignment

•

nano

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
SUNMIL  
LMOM  
Available on Infoscience
July 3, 2023
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/198762
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