Nematic Alignment of Composite Silver-Coated Gold Nanorods and Cellulose Nanocrystals.

ABSTRACT: Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) have been extensively studied for their ability to maintain liquid crystal (LC) order within solid films, providing a robust template for the self-assembly of plasmonic nanorods (NRs) and the construction of nanostructures. The self-assembly mechanism of NRs combined with uniaxially nematic CNC LCs has long attracted considerable attention. In this study, we investigated the influence of pH and aspect ratio on the self-assembly of composite NR-uniaxial nematic CNC systems. The phase diagram indicates that the uniaxial nematic phase of CNCs becomes more stable at higher pH, while it is more sensitive to disturbance from NRs with smaller aspect ratios. Furthermore, a composite effective excluded volume model was developed, in which the interaction between NRs an

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12566908 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature