Liquid Crystals with Nano/Micro Particles and Their Applications

Description

LCs are self-organized anisotropic fluids that are thermodynamically located between the isotropic liquid and the crystalline phase, exhibiting the fluidity of liquids as well as the long-range lattice order that can only be found in crystalline solids. The addition of nanomaterials to a LC material produces a composite or colloidal dispersion and results into a revolutionary change in their applications. This book will discuss the remarkable performances of nano-particle aided liquid crystals in metamaterials, photonics, functionalized polymer fibres, sensing, and medical diagnostics. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Preface Table of Contents 1. Liquid Crystals and Its Classifications—Fundamental Studies 1. Introduction 2. What is a Liquid Crystal? 3. Historical Background 4. Classification 4.1 Conventional and Non-conventional LCs 4.2 Phases and Structures of Calamitic LCs 5. Basic Concepts of Ionic LCs 6. Structures of Chiral LCs 6.1 What is Chirality? 6.2 Chiral LCs 2. Micro- and Nano-particles Doped Liquid Crystals 1. Introduction 2. Zero-dimensional Nanoparticles 2.1 Metal Nanoparticles 2.2 Quantum Dots 2.3 Magnetic Nanoparticles 3. Quasi-Zero-Dimensional Ferroelectric Nanoparticles 4. One-Dimensional Nanorods 5. One-Dimensional Carbon Nanotubes 6. Two-Dimensional Nanodiscs and Nanoclay Materials 7. Liquid Crystal Phases with Nano-particle Doping 7.1 Zero-dimensional Nano-particle Additives 7.2 One-dimensional Nanoparticle Additives 8. Conclusions 3. Potential Applications of Nanoparticles Aided Liquid Crystals 1. Introduction 2. Application of Various NPs Aided LCs in Biosensing Techniques 3. Applications of Gold NPs Doped LC Composites in LCD Systems 3.1 GNPs Capped in Nematic LCs 3.2 GNPs Capped in Cholesteric LCs 3.3 GNPs Capped in Smectic LCs 3.4 Applications of GNPs in PDLC Systems 4. Liquid Crystal Nanoparticles in Commercial Drug Delivery System 1. Introduction 2. Importance of Liquid Crystals as Nanomaterial 3. Different Methods and Techniques used for the Synthesis and Characterization of Liquid Crystal Mesophases/Nanoparticles 4. Applications of Liquid Crystal NPs in Drug Delivery 5. Factors Affecting Drug Release/Delivery by Lyotropic Liquid Crystals 6. Conclusions Index