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Blue phase III widening in CE6-dispersed surface-functionalised CdSe nanoparticles |
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| Authors: | George Cordoyiannis Patricia Losada-Pérez Chandra Shekhar Pati Tripathi Brigita Rožič Uroš Tkalec Vassilios Tzitzios |
| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratorium voor Akoestiek en Thermische Fysica, Departement Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven , Leuven, Belgium;2. Condensed Matter Physics Department , Jo?ef Stefan Institute , Ljubljana, Slovenia george.cordoyiannis@ijs.si;4. Laboratorium voor Akoestiek en Thermische Fysica, Departement Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven , Leuven, Belgium;5. Condensed Matter Physics Department , Jo?ef Stefan Institute , Ljubljana, Slovenia;6. National Centre for Scientific Research ‘Demokritos’ , Aghia Paraskevi, Greece |
| Abstract: | The phase transition behaviour of the chiral liquid crystal CE6 doped with spherical surface-functionalised CdSe nanoparticles has been examined by means of high-resolution adiabatic scanning calorimetry and polarising microscopy. The addition of nanoparticles results in an essentially stabilised blue phase III. The phase diagram is displayed upon heating and cooling and the enthalpy changes involved in the conversion between the blue phases are determined. The dispersion of functionalised nanoparticles is prominent for the stabilisation of blue phase III, which is potentially useful for applications, especially if applied on liquid crystals that exhibit blue phases close to room temperature. |
| Keywords: | adiabatic scanning calorimetry polarising microscopy liquid crystals blue phases nanoparticles |