Directed crystalline symmetry transformation of blue-phase liquid crystals by reverse electrostriction.

ABSTRACT: Soft-matter-based photonic crystals like blue-phase liquid crystals (BPLC) have potential applications in wide-ranging photonic and bio-chemical systems. To date, however, there are limitations in the fabrication of large monocrystalline BPLCs. Traditional crystal-growth process involves the transition from a high-temperature disordered phase to an ordered (blue) phase and is generally slow (takes hours) with limited achievable lattice structures, and efforts to improve molecular alignment through post-crystallization field application typically prove ineffective. Here we report a systematic study on the molecular self-assembly dynamics of BPLC starting from a highly ordered phase in which all molecules are unidirectionally aligned by a strong electric field. We have discovered that, near

SUBMITTER: Lin TH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11327289 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature