Web Release Date: September 12,
Tailoring the Interfaces between Nematic Liquid Crystal Emulsions and Aqueous Phases via Layer-by-Layer Assembly
and
Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia, and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Received July 12, 2006
Revised August 16, 2006
Abstract:
We report the assembly of polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films at the interfaces of thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) droplets dispersed in an aqueous phase. Exposure of PEM-coated droplets to surfactant slowed the bipolar-to-radial ordering transition of the LCs by 2 orders of magnitude relative to naked droplets. This shows that PEMs can be used to influence the interactions of analytes with the LC cores of the droplets, allowing tuning of the LC emulsion sensing properties.
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