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Effects of morphology and concentration of CuS nanoparticles on alignment and electro-optic properties of nematic liquid crystal

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Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) with flower-like and frame morphologies were synthesized from CuS, a remarkable transition-metal sulfide. We introduced two kinds of CuS NPs into a nematic liquid crystal (LC) 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) and investigated the morphology- and concentration-dependent alignment and electro-optic (E-O) effects of CuS NPs on 5CB. A trace amount of flower-like CuS NPs induced a uniform homeotropic orientation of LC molecules; this is attributable to the obtained desirable compact nanosheet structure. Moreover, both flower-like and frame CuS NPs induced a remarkable improvement in the E-O properties of 5CB, and the flower-like CuS/5CB system exhibited a better performance. The doped CuS NPs in the LC host suppressed the shielding effect and strengthened the electric field, resulting in outstanding E-O properties. At a doping concentration of 0.05 wt.%, CuS NPs were well-dispersed and achieved the optimum E-O performance. This study provides a novel method for inducing a uniform orientation and enhanced E-O properties of LC molecules by doping with extraordinary CuS NPs, leading to potential applications in establishing flexible LC displays.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51203005 and 51673008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Smart Interfacial Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Environment, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Bin Liu, Yiran Ma, Dongyu Zhao, Lihong Xu, Fashun Liu, Wei Zhou & Lin Guo

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  1. Bin Liu
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  2. Yiran Ma
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  3. Dongyu Zhao
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  4. Lihong Xu
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  5. Fashun Liu
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  6. Wei Zhou
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  7. Lin Guo
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Correspondence to Dongyu Zhao, Wei Zhou or Lin Guo.

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12274_2016_1321_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Effects of morphology and concentration of CuS nanoparticles on alignment and electro-optic properties of nematic liquid crystal

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Liu, B., Ma, Y., Zhao, D. et al. Effects of morphology and concentration of CuS nanoparticles on alignment and electro-optic properties of nematic liquid crystal. Nano Res. 10, 618–625 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1321-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1321-5

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