Applications of liquid crystals in biosensing and organic light-emitting devices: future aspects

ABSTRACT

This article summarises recent advances made in our laboratory towards the development of new technological applications, such as biosensors and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) based on liquid crystals (LCs) other than LC displays. The study of biomolecular interaction using LC material relies on the specific interaction between the LC and the biomolecule of interest at interfaces that permit the biomolecular events to be amplified into easily measured signals for various sensing applications. In the first part, we emphases recent studies in the design and modulation of LC-based interfaces based on robust colloidal LC gels for biological amplification, qualitative and quantitative understanding of important biomolecular interactions at LC–aqueous interfaces for diagnostic and laboratory applications and design of LC droplets that hold promise to act as a marker for cells and cell-based interactions. In the second part, we described design of organic materials for application in OLEDs on various discotic monomers, dimers and oligomers. These molecules have the ability to transport charges, holes and electrons. In addition, because of the high conductivity and π–π stacking, they are considered as the advanced materials for practical applications. The technological advances in our laboratory using discotic LCs will be briefly presented in this article.     

Tuneable Sagnac comb filter including two wave retarders

In this paper we study theoretically and experimentally a wavelength-tuneable Sagnac birefringence filter. The device is a Sagnac interferometer including a symmetric fibre coupler and a length of high-birefringence fibre in the loop. A wave retarder is inserted at each end of the birefringent fibre for absolute wavelength tuning. We show theoretically that wavelength tuning through wave plate orientation ensuring constant amplitude of the filtering function is possible only if a minimum of two wave retarders are included in the setup. The position of the transmission peaks then varies linearly with the angle of one of the retarders and can be adjusted over one entire channel spacing. This happens only when a quarter-wave retarder and a half-wave retarder are used, if the former is oriented at 45° with respect to the fibre birefringence axes, while the orientation of the latter serves as the adjustment parameter. The theoretical predictions are confirmed by the experimental results.     

Operation principle of self-phase compensated optical waveguide isolator

A theory is developed for the self-phase compensated optical waveguide isolator recently reported in the literature. The operation principle of such device is explained in terms of synchronization of phase and power conversion. The effect of balancing phase mismatches of the two convertors on achieving a proper percentage of mode conversion is revealed. The way to make use of the phase mismatches of different sections to accommodate the different requirements in phase relationship for the reciprocal and nonreciprocal mode convertors is discussed. The theory is extended to the case where phase compensator is used. It is demonstrated that the introduction of phase compensator separates the adjustment of phase from the adjustment of power for the mode convertors so that relaxes fabrication tolerances of such devices. An isolator consists of three phase mismatched waveguide sections is designed and simulated. The simulation results confirm the self-phase compensation theory.     

广州秋季灰霾和正常天气PM2.5中水溶性离子特征

为了探讨细粒子(PM2.5)在灰霾天气下水溶性离子的组分特征,2007年秋季在广州万顷沙连续一个月采集了大气PM2.5样品,分析了SO42-,NO3-,NH4+,Cl-,Na+,K+,Ca2+,C2O42-,F-,NO2-和HCOO-11种水溶性离子含量.结果显示,正常天气和灰霾天气PM2.5总水性离子质量浓度分别为3...     

Rapid Capillary-Assisted Solution Printing of Perovskite Nanowire Arrays Enables Scalable Production of Photodetectors

Despite recent progress in producing perovskite nanowires (NWs) for optoelectronics, it remains challenging to solution-print an array of NWs with precisely controlled position and orientation. Herein, we report a robust capillary-assisted solution printing (CASP) strategy to rapidly access aligned and highly crystalline perovskite NW arrays. The key to the CASP approach lies in the integration of capillary-directed assembly through periodic nanochannels and solution printing through the programmably moving substrate to rapidly guide the deposition of perovskite NWs. The growth kinetics of perovskite NWs was closely examined by in situ optical microscopy. Intriguingly, the as-printed perovskite NWs array exhibit excellent optical and optoelectronic properties and can be conveniently implemented for the scalable fabrication of photodetectors.     

Optically Triggered Control of the Charge Carrier Density in Chemically Functionalized Graphene Field Effect Transistors

Field effect transistors (FETs) based on 2D materials are of great interest for applications in ultrathin electronic and sensing devices. Here we demonstrate the possibility to add optical switchability to graphene FETs (GFET) by functionalizing the graphene channel with optically switchable azobenzene molecules. The azobenzene molecules were incorporated to the GFET channel by building a van der Waals heterostructure with a carbon nanomembrane (CNM), which is used as a molecular interposer to attach the azobenzene molecules. Under exposure with 365 nm and 455 nm light, azobenzene molecules transition between cis and trans molecular conformations, respectively, resulting in a switching of the molecular dipole moment. Thus, the effective electric field acting on the GFET channel is tuned by optical stimulation and the carrier density is modulated.     

Theoretical investigation of substitution and end-group effects on poly(p-phenylene vinylene)s

Semi-empirical AM1 and ZINDO/S, as well as density function theory (DFT) method B3LYP/6-31G(d) quantum chemical calculations were carried out to study the electronic structures and optical properties of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) derivatives (PPVs) with 10 and 11 phenylene rings in the backbone. The calculations suggest that the assembly of alternate incorporation of CN and alkoxy substituted phenylene rings in the PPV backbone could be a good way to construct organic semiconductors with low HOMO/LUMO energy band-gaps. The effect of the end-group on the electronic structures and optical properties of the conjugated polymer was investigated by the calculated UV-Vis and UPS spectra. It was demonstrated that the aldehyde and phosphate end-groups have limited effects on the photophysical properties in the UV-visible range.     

Single‐Molecule Sensing of Environmental pH—an STM Break Junction and NEGF‐DFT Approach

Sensors play a significant role in the detection of toxic species and explosives, and in the remote control of chemical processes. In this work, we report a single‐molecule‐based pH switch/sensor that exploits the sensitivity of dye molecules to environmental pH to build metal–molecule–metal (m‐M‐m) devices using the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) break junction technique. Dyes undergo pH‐induced electronic modulation due to reversible structural transformation between a conjugated and a nonconjugated form, resulting in a change in the HOMO–LUMO gap. The dye‐mediated m‐M‐m devices react to environmental pH with a high on/off ratio (≈100:1) of device conductivity. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations, carried out under the non‐equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) framework, model charge transport through these molecules in the two possible forms and confirm that the HOMO–LUMO gap of dyes is nearly twice as large in the nonconjugated form as in the conjugated form.     

Miniaturized molecularly imprinted polymer extraction method for the gas chromatographic analysis of flavonoids

In this study, the use of monolithic molecularly imprinted polymers in a micropipette tip format allowing the simple and fast extraction of flavonoids from standard solutions and a black tea sample is demonstrated. The imprinted polymer employed quercetin, methacrylic acid or 4‐vinylpyridine, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as template, functional monomer, and cross‐linker, respectively. Surface morphologies of the quercetin‐imprinted polymers and the corresponding nonimprinted polymers were characterized by SEM. Extraction of flavonoid standards was performed to evaluate the selectivity and recovery with these imprinted and nonimprinted polymers. Flavonoid compositions in aliquots eluted from the tips were identified using fast GC with flame ionization detection. Maximum specific capacities of 0.2, 5.7, and 16.0 mg/g for catechin, morin, and quercetin, respectively, were obtained with the imprinted polymer prepared with methacrylic acid, with the corresponding recoveries of 99.8, 98.8, and 95.4%, respectively. Efficient extraction by the quercetin‐imprinted polymer of epicatechin, catechin, and quercetin from an apple‐flavored black tea sample was achieved, with GC–MS employed for compound identification for both the tea and extracted samples.