Microparticles confined to a nematic liquid crystal shell - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Soft Matter Année : 2013

Microparticles confined to a nematic liquid crystal shell

Résumé

A seminal paper [D. R. Nelson, Nano Lett., 2002, 2, 1125.] has proposed that a nematic coating could be used to create a valency for spherical colloidal particles through the functionalization of nematic topological defects. Experimental realizations however question the complex behaviour of solid particles and defects embedded in such a nematic spherical shell. In order to address the related topological and geometrical issues, we have studied micrometer-sized silica beads trapped in nematic shells. We underline the mechanisms that strongly modify the texture of the simple (particle-free) shells when colloidal particles are embedded. Finally, we show how the coupling between capillarity and nematic elasticity offers new ways to control the valence and directionality of shells.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

hal-00840285 , version 1 (02-07-2013)

Identifiants

Citer

Mohamed Amine Gharbi, David Sec, Teresa Lopez-Leon, Maurizio Nobili, Miha Ravnik, et al.. Microparticles confined to a nematic liquid crystal shell. Soft Matter, 2013, 9, pp.6911. ⟨10.1039/C3SM00126A⟩. ⟨hal-00840285⟩
177 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More