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Priyadharshana PANS, Park JY, Hong SH, Song JK. Multiresponsive Polymer Nanocomposite Liquid Crystals Having Heterogeneous Phase Transitions for Battery-Free Temperature Maintenance Indicators. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2022; 18:e2203551. [PMID: 35988135 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202203551] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Multiresponsive functional materials that respond to more than one external stimulus are promising for novel photonic, electronic, and biomedical applications. However, the design or synthesis of new multiresponsive materials is challenging. Here, this work reports a facile method to prepare a multiresponsive colloidal material by mixing a liquid-crystalline 2D nanocolloid and a functional polymer colloid. For this purpose, electrically sensitive exfoliated α-ZrP 2D nanocolloids and thermosensitive block copolymer colloids that are dispersed well in water are mixed. In the liquid-crystalline nanocomposite, nematic, antinematic, or isotropic assemblies of α-ZrP, nanoparticles can be electrically and selectively obtained by applying electric fields with different frequencies; furthermore, their rheology is thermally and reversibly controlled through thesol-gel-sol transition. The nanocomposite exhibits a solid gel phase within a predesigned gel temperature range and a liquid sol phase outside this range. These properties facilitate the design of a simple display device in which information can be electrically written and thermally stabilized or erased, and using the device, a battery-free temperature maintenance indication function is demonstrated. The proposed polymer nanocomposite method can enrich the physical properties of 2D nanocolloidal liquid crystals and create new opportunities for eco-friendly, reusable, battery-free electro-optical devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- P A N S Priyadharshana
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Jangan-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Korea
| | - Ju-Young Park
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Jangan-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Korea
| | - Seung-Ho Hong
- ICT Research and Education Foundation, Sungkyunkwan University, Jangan-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Korea
| | - Jang-Kun Song
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Jangan-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, 16419, Korea
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Miyamoto N, Yamamoto S. Angular-Independent Structural Colors of Clay Dispersions. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:6070-6074. [PMID: 35224368 PMCID: PMC8867563 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c06448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Clay mineral nanosheet colloids were found to show angular-independent structural colors after desalting. Naked-eye observation and UV-visible reflectance spectra showed that the color is tuned by varying the average nanosheet size and nanosheet concentration. The low angular-dependence of the structural color was also clarified by these observations, which is the first case for a nanosheet system. The present system is expected as an environmentally benign and low-cost structural color material for various applications.
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Xu YT, Li J, MacLachlan MJ. Stable graphene oxide hydrophobic photonic liquids. NANOSCALE HORIZONS 2022; 7:185-191. [PMID: 35014664 DOI: 10.1039/d1nh00523e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO) is an important nanomaterial for producing photonic liquids due to its ability to display full-color reflections in water. However, the poor stability of GO photonic liquids and unsatisfactory dispersibility of GO nanosheets in hydrophobic liquid media have been significant drawbacks to developing photonic materials based on GO. Here, stable GO hydrophobic photonic liquids are demonstrated for the first time. GO nanosheets are directed into different hydrophobic liquid media, including reactive liquid precursors like tetraethoxysilane and ethyl acrylate, in the presence of phase transfer additives. These liquids exhibit tunable reflection wavelength up to ∼1300 nm with improved stability relative to aqueous GO photonic suspensions at elevated temperatures or under ambient conditions. Supported by an entropy-driven depletion mechanism, hydrophobic additives can effectively mediate the self-assembly of GO to produce tunable photonic liquids without the need to adjust GO concentrations. Furthermore, simultaneous infrared and visible light reflection can be achieved, enabling infrared photonic GO liquids to display visible colors. The improved stability and tunable photonic properties of hydrophobic GO liquids will open a way for developing GO-based optical materials and devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Tao Xu
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
| | - Joyce Li
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
| | - Mark J MacLachlan
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
- Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, 2355 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
- WPI Nano Life Science Institute, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan
- Bioproducts Institute, University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
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Lázaro MT, Aliabadi R, Wensink HH. Second-virial theory for shape-persistent living polymers templated by disks. Phys Rev E 2021; 104:054505. [PMID: 34942807 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.104.054505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Accepted: 11/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Living polymers composed of noncovalently bonded building blocks with weak backbone flexibility may self-assemble into thermoresponsive lyotropic liquid crystals. We demonstrate that the reversible polymer assembly and phase behavior can be controlled by the addition of (nonadsorbing) rigid colloidal disks which act as an entropic reorienting "template" onto the supramolecular polymers. Using a particle-based second-virial theory that correlates the various entropies associated with the polymers and disks, we demonstrate that small fractions of discotic additives promote the formation of a polymer nematic phase. At larger disk concentrations, however, the phase is disrupted by collective disk alignment in favor of a discotic nematic fluid in which the polymers are dispersed antinematically. We show that the antinematic arrangement of the polymers generates a nonexponential molecular-weight distribution and stimulates the formation of oligomeric species. At sufficient concentrations the disks facilitate a liquid-liquid phase separation which can be brought into simultaneously coexistence with the two fractionated nematic phases, providing evidence for a four-fluid coexistence in reversible shape-dissimilar hard-core mixtures without cohesive interparticle forces. We stipulate the conditions under which such a phenomenon could be found in experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Torres Lázaro
- Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR 8502, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - R Aliabadi
- Physics Department, Sirjan University of Technology, Sirjan 78137, Iran
| | - H H Wensink
- Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR 8502, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay, France
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Nakato T, Ishitobi W, Yabuuchi M, Miyagawa M, Mouri E, Yamauchi Y. Electrically Induced Alignment of Semiconductor Nanosheets in Niobate-Clay Binary Nanosheet Colloids toward Significantly Enhanced Photocatalysis. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2021; 37:7789-7800. [PMID: 34130455 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c01051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Aqueous binary colloids of niobate and clay nanosheets, prepared by the exfoliation of their mother layered crystals, are unique colloidal systems characterized by the separation of niobate and clay nanosheet phases, where niobate nanosheets form liquid crystalline domains with the size of several tens of micrometers among isotropically dispersed clay nanosheets. The binary colloids show unusual photocatalytic reactions because of the spatial separation of photocatalytically active niobate and photochemically inert clay nanosheets. The present study shows structural conversion of the binary colloids with an external electric field, resulting in the onsite alignment of colloidal nanosheets to improve the photocatalytic performance of the system. The colloidal structure is reshaped by the growth of liquid crystalline domains of photocatalytic niobate nanosheets and by their electric alignment. Niobate nanosheets are assembled by the domain growth process and then aligned by AC voltage, although clay nanosheets do not respond to the electric field. Photocatalytic decomposition of the cationic rhodamine 6G dye, which is selectively adsorbed on clay nanosheets, is examined for the niobate-clay binary nanosheet colloids with or without domain growth and electric field. The fastest decomposition is observed for the electrically aligned colloid without the domain growth, whereas the sample with the domain growth and without the electric alignment shows the slowest decomposition. The results demonstrate the improvement of the photocatalytic performance by changing the colloidal structure, even though the sample composition is the same.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teruyuki Nakato
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
- Strategic Research Unit for Innovative Multiscale Materials, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
| | - Wataru Ishitobi
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
| | - Miho Yabuuchi
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
| | - Masaya Miyagawa
- Department of Environmental Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of Advanced Engineering, Kogakuin University, 2665-1 Nakano-machi, Hachioji, Tokyo 192-0015, Japan
| | - Emiko Mouri
- Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
- Strategic Research Unit for Innovative Multiscale Materials, Kyushu Institute of Technology, 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 804-8550, Japan
| | - Yusuke Yamauchi
- School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
- JST-ERATO Yamauchi Materials Space-Tectonics and International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan
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Xu YT, Mody UV, MacLachlan MJ. Tuning the photonic properties of graphene oxide suspensions with nanostructured additives. NANOSCALE 2021; 13:7558-7565. [PMID: 33876810 DOI: 10.1039/d1nr01677f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Photonic materials that can selectively reflect light across the visible spectrum are valuable for applications in optical devices, sensors, and decoration. Although two-dimensional (2D) colloids that stack into layers with spacing of hundreds of nanometers are able to selectively diffract light, controlling their separation in solution has proven challenging. In this work, we investigate the role of additives to control the photonic properties of hybrid colloidal suspensions of graphene oxide (GO). We discovered that low concentrations of colloidal additives like cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and clay nanoparticles (hectorite) added to GO suspensions lead to dramatic color changes. These hybrid colloidal suspensions demonstrate tunable structural colors and temperature-sensitive properties that likely originate from the entropically driven ejection of guests between the sheets, and from the interactions between colloidal electrical double layers and additional counterions. On the other hand, blending polymeric or molecular additives with GO suspensions either deteriorates or does not impact the photonic properties. These results are helpful to understand the interaction between GO suspensions and additives over different length scales, and open a path to advancing photonic materials based on hybrid colloidal suspensions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Tao Xu
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
| | - Urmi Vijay Mody
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada.
| | - Mark J MacLachlan
- Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2036 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada. and Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, 2355 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada and WPI Nano Life Science Institute, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan and Bioproducts Institute, University of British Columbia, 2360 East Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z3, Canada
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