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Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals
Inorganic nanomaterials such as nanotubes and nanorods have attracted great attention due to their anisotropic properties. Although the alignment control of inorganic nanomaterials is key to the development of functional devices utilizing their fascinating properties, there is still difficulty in ac...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839402/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35163954 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030689 |
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author | Ogata, Kaho Matsumoto, Kohsuke Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kubo, Shoichi Shishido, Atsushi |
author_facet | Ogata, Kaho Matsumoto, Kohsuke Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kubo, Shoichi Shishido, Atsushi |
author_sort | Ogata, Kaho |
collection | PubMed |
description | Inorganic nanomaterials such as nanotubes and nanorods have attracted great attention due to their anisotropic properties. Although the alignment control of inorganic nanomaterials is key to the development of functional devices utilizing their fascinating properties, there is still difficulty in achieving uniform alignment over a large area with a micrometer thickness. To overcome this problem, we focused on liquid crystals (LCs) to promote the alignment of anisotropic nanomaterials, taking advantage of the cooperative motion of LCs. We present the uniform, one-dimensional alignment of ZnO nanorods along the direction of LCs in micrometer-thick cells by grafting nematic LC polymers from the nanorod surfaces to provide miscibility with the host LCs. Polarized optical microscopy and polarized UV–visible absorption spectroscopy revealed the unidirectional alignment of nematic LC polymer-grafted ZnO nanorods parallel to the nematic host LCs. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8839402 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-88394022022-02-13 Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals Ogata, Kaho Matsumoto, Kohsuke Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kubo, Shoichi Shishido, Atsushi Molecules Article Inorganic nanomaterials such as nanotubes and nanorods have attracted great attention due to their anisotropic properties. Although the alignment control of inorganic nanomaterials is key to the development of functional devices utilizing their fascinating properties, there is still difficulty in achieving uniform alignment over a large area with a micrometer thickness. To overcome this problem, we focused on liquid crystals (LCs) to promote the alignment of anisotropic nanomaterials, taking advantage of the cooperative motion of LCs. We present the uniform, one-dimensional alignment of ZnO nanorods along the direction of LCs in micrometer-thick cells by grafting nematic LC polymers from the nanorod surfaces to provide miscibility with the host LCs. Polarized optical microscopy and polarized UV–visible absorption spectroscopy revealed the unidirectional alignment of nematic LC polymer-grafted ZnO nanorods parallel to the nematic host LCs. MDPI 2022-01-21 /pmc/articles/PMC8839402/ /pubmed/35163954 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030689 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Ogata, Kaho Matsumoto, Kohsuke Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kubo, Shoichi Shishido, Atsushi Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title | Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title_full | Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title_fullStr | Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title_full_unstemmed | Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title_short | Unidirectional Alignment of Surface-Grafted ZnO Nanorods in Micrometer-Thick Cells Using Low-Molecular-Weight Liquid Crystals |
title_sort | unidirectional alignment of surface-grafted zno nanorods in micrometer-thick cells using low-molecular-weight liquid crystals |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839402/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35163954 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/molecules27030689 |
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