0.5 Nanotechnology: ferrofluids and liquid crystals  (Page 2/3)

The surfactant used in this synthesis is tetramethylammonium hydroxide ( $N({\text{CH}}_3{)}_4\text{OH}$ ). The hydroxide ( ${\text{OH}}^{-}$ ) ions formed in solution tend to bind to the iron sites on the magnetite particles, creating a net negative charge on each particle. The positively-charged tetramethylammonium ions will then associate with the negatively-charged magnetite particles, forming a kind of shell around each magnetite particle. This charged shell raises the energy required for the particles to agglomerate, stabilizing the suspension.

Changing the subject to liquid crystals: with the help of nanotechnology, liquid crystal displays have become very popular in recent years. Liquid crystal displays (LCD) were first produced by RCA in 1971 and are composed of two glass plates with a liquid crystal material between them. The liquid crystal material is an organic compound that is in a state between a liquid and a solid. Their viscosities are similar to those of liquids and their light scattering and reflection properties are similar to solid crystals. Liquid crystals must be geometrically highly

anisotropic (having different optical properties in different directions)-usually long and narrow -but also become an isotropic liquid (same optical properties in all directions) through a stimulus such as a magnetic field, electric field, temperature, or pressure.

Liquid crystals have several common phases. The simplest liquid crystal phase is called the nematic phase where the molecules spontaneously order with long axes roughly parallel. It is characterized by a high degree of long range orientational order but no translational order. An uniformly aligned nematic has a preferred direction, often described in terms of a unit vector called the director. The type of phase that a liquid crystal possesses ultimately determines its applications.

A subclass of nematic phases that will be investigated in this lab due to its pressure and temperature sensitive properties is the cholestric phase. The distance over which the director rotates to equal 360° is referred to as the chiral pitch and is normally on the order of a few hundred nanometers, or precisely the wavelength of visible light. This allows liquid crystals to selectively reflect light of wavelengths equal to the pitch length, so that a color will be reflected when the pitch is equal to the corresponding wavelength of light in the visible spectrum. Changes in the director orientation between successive layers modifies the pitch length resulting in an alteration of the wavelength of reflected light according to the temperature. The angle at which the director changes can be made larger, and thus tighten the pitch, by increasing the temperature of the molecules, hence giving them more thermal energy. Similarly, decreasing the temperature of the molecules increases the pitch length of the chiral nematic liquid crystal. This makes it possible to build a liquid crystal thermometer that displays the temperature of its environment by the reflected color.