SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Engineering colloids with optical and geometrical anisotropies: de-coupling size monodispersity and particle properties
Abstract
This paper gives an overview of our recent work on liquid crystal emulsions and their use as starting point towards making monodisperse suspensions of colloidal entities with optical and geometrical anisotropies. The procedure utilizes a monodisperse emulsion of a photopolymerizable liquid crystal that is polymerized after mechanical deformation of the drops. We have engineered solid spheres as well as oblate and prolate spheroids presenting a bipolar anisotropic character at the micrometer scale. These materials respond to optical and external electric fields by aligning their mean optic axis parallel to the field, thus constituting excellent systems for fundamental studies and applied uses.
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