Doping the nematic liquid crystal 5CB with milled BaTiO3 nanoparticles

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2012 Nov;86(5 Pt 1):051704. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.86.051704. Epub 2012 Nov 20.

Abstract

The simple nematic mesogen 5CB was doped with milled BaTiO3 nanoparticles and was investigated with x-ray scattering. Doping with BaTiO3 nanoparticles of 9 nm in diameter led to the formation of crystallites. These crystallites precipitated and formed a waxlike nanodispersion of 5CB and nanoparticles, which led to intense x-ray scattering signals characteristic of a multilayer structure. Surprisingly, the multilayers possess unusual interlayer spacing, which cannot be explained by simple smectic order of the calamitic molecules.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Barium Compounds / chemistry*
  • Biphenyl Compounds / chemistry*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Crystallization / methods*
  • Liquid Crystals / chemistry*
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Molecular Conformation
  • Nitriles / chemistry*
  • Titanium / chemistry*

Substances

  • Barium Compounds
  • Biphenyl Compounds
  • Nitriles
  • barium titanate(IV)
  • 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl
  • Titanium