Liquid crystals concentration effects

Kim Jaeyong, and Han Jeong In. Effect of liquid crystal concentration on electro-optical properties of polymer dispersed liquid crystal lens for smart electronic glasses with autoshading and auto-focusing function. Electron. Mater. Lett. 10 no. 3 (2014) 607-610. 

Liu, Y.J., Sun, X.W., Elim, H.I., Ji, W. Effect of liquid crystal concentration on the lasing properties of dye-doped holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal transmission gratings. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 011109 (2007)... 

In n-octane/aqueous systems at 27°C, TRS 10-80 has been shown to form a surfactant-rich third phase, or a thin film of liquid crystals (see Figure 1), with a sharp interfacial tension minimum of about 5x10 mN/m at 15 g/L NaCI concentration f131. Similarly, in this study the bitumen/aqueous tension behavior of TRS 10-80 and Sun Tech IV appeared not to be related to monolayer coverage at the interface (as in the case of Enordet C16 18) but rather was indicative of a surfactant-rich third phase between oil and water. The higher values for minimum interfacial tension observed for a heavy oil compared to a pure n-alkane were probably due to natural surfactants in the crude oil which somewhat hindered the formation of the surfactant-rich phase. This hypothesis needs to be tested, but the effect is not unlike that of the addition of SDS (which does not form liquid crystals) in partially solubilizing the third phase formed by TRS 10-80 or Aerosol OT at the alkane/brine interface Til.121. 

Cholesterol s presence in liposome membranes has the effect of decreasing or even abolishing (at high cholesterol concentrations) the phase transition from the gel state to the fluid or liquid crystal state that occurs with increasing temperature. It also can modulate the permeability and fluidity of the associated membrane—increasing both parameters at temperatures below the phase transition point and decreasing both above the phase transition temperature. Most liposomal recipes include cholesterol as an integral component in membrane construction. 

Similar to Voltaren" Emulgel, oily droplets of an eutectic mixture of lidocaine and prilocaine are dispersed in a hydrogel to provide local anesthesia to the skin for injections and siugical treatment (Emla cream). A further possibility is the dermal administration of a liposome dispersion as a spray (Heparin PUR ratiopharm Spriih-gel "). After administration, water and isopropylic alcohol evaporate partially resulting in an increase of concentration and in a transition from the initial liposome dispersion into a lamellar liquid crystal [32]. The therapeutic effect appears to be influenced favorably by the presence of lecithins rather than by the degree of liposome dispersion. 

Micellar properties are affected by changes in the environment, eg, temperature, solvents, electrolytes, and solubilized components. These changes indude complicated phase changes, viscosity effects, gd formation, and liquefication of liquid crystals. Of the simpler changes, high concentrations of water-soluble alcohols in aqueous solution often dissolve micelles and in nonaqueous solvents addition of water frequendy causes a sharp increase in micellar size. 

With such low concentrations of components available to form critical nuclei, hydrate formation seems unlikely in the bulk phases. However, at an interface where higher concentrations exist through adsorption (particularly at the vapor-liquid interface where both phases appear in abundance) cluster growth to a supercritical size is a more likely event. High mixing rates may cause interfacial gas + liquid + crystal structures to be dispersed within the liquid, giving the appearance of bulk nucleation from a surface effect. 

Yoshida et al. recently disclosed an alternative method that allowed them to produce stable suspensions of gold nanoparticles (1-2 nm in diameter) in nematic liquid crystals [315]. They used a simple sputter deposition process, which allowed them to prepare thin liquid crystal films of well-dispersed gold nanoparticles in both 5CB and E47 (available from Merck) with a nanoparticle size depending on the used nematic liquid crystal. Unfortunately, the authors did not provide any details on whether the nanoparticles were capped with a ligand or bare, non-coated particles, which makes it difficult to assess and compare the reported thermal as well as electro-optic data. However, very similar effects were found as a result of nanoparticle doping, including lower nematic-to-isotropic phase transition temperatures compared to the used pure nematics as well as 10% lower threshold voltages at nanoparticle concentrations below 1 wt% [315]. 

Moreover, segregation of nanoparticles at liquid crystal/substrate interfaces is also an effective way to promote or alter the alignment of thin nematic liquid crystal films. Depending on their concentration, size, and nature, several types of nanoparticles have been shown to induce homeotropic alignment as well as defects and remarkable defect patterns. 

Haase and co-workers investigated electro-optic and dielectric properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals doped with chiral CNTs [495, 496]. The performance of the doped liquid crystal mixture was greatly affected even by a small concentration of CNTs. The experimental results were explained by two effects (1) the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric liquid crystal is screened by the 7t-electron system of the CNT and (2) the CNT 7i-electrons trap ionic impurities, resulting in a significant modification of the internal electric field within liquid crystal test cells. 

Fig. 13a Salt addition effect on the selective light-reflection phenomenon of aqueous HPC liquid crystals b variation in the cholesteric reflection color with time, observed for an HPC/Lil/water system under the action of an electric field E = 4.5 V/15 mm. HPC cone., 62.5 wt% salt concentration, 0.5 M temp., 20 °C...

Space Charge Effect. Space charge effect of electrical properties of liquids have been studied in at least two aspects. One is the "concentration effect" in electrochemistry and the other, the "SCLC effect," or, the space-charge-limited-current effect in liquid crystals. We would like to discuss these two effects separately in the following. 

Just as chiral induction can be realised in discotic liquid crystals, it can also be realised in assemblies of disc-like molecules or disc-like aggregates. As far as molecules are concerned, C3-symmetrical trisamides (Fig. 15), which actually exhibit discotic liquid crystalline phases, also form chiral columnar stacks through it-it interactions when dissolved in apolar solvents, which are depicted schematically in Fig. 15 [121]. An achiral compound of this type (15) exhibits no optical activity in dodecane, but when the compound is dissolved in the chiral CR)-(-)-2,6-dimelhyloctanc significant Cotton effects (only slightly less intense than those observed in a chiral derivative) are detected. The chiral disc-like trisamide 16 can also be used as a dopant at concentrations as low as 2.5% to induce supramolecular chirality in the stacks of achiral compound. In this case, the presence of the additional hydrogen... 

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