Designated ligand functionalization of gold nanoparticles for optimizing blue-phase liquid crystal composites
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4302/plp.v16i4.1304Abstract
This work presents the impact of the composition of the organic shell of 4 nm gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on the optical properties and stability of the nanoparticle-doped blue-phase liquid crystals (BPLCs). Particularly, we show that the binary shell of NPs, comprising LC-like ligands, can significantly enhance the thermal stability of BPs. Moreover, modifying the shell composition enables control over the Bragg wavelength of BPLCs. Our findings highlight the potential of ligand-functionalized Au NPs to optimize BPLC-based photonic devices, emphasizing ligand functionalization as a crucial factor for improving stability of NPs, and controlling BPLC properties.
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