Probing the Ire-Nc-I phase transitions in a lyotropic liquid crystal by the surface plasmon resonance of embedded gold nanoparticles

The surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles depends on properties of the nanoparticles and of the surrounding medium, which make it a suitable probe of the local ordering of anisotropic media. Besides that, no much attention was paid to the possibility of using the surface plasmon res...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Liquid crystals 2016-07, Vol.43 (9), p.1215-1220
Main Authors: Lenart, V.M., Turchiello, R.F., Gómez, S.L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Constants
Crystals
Gold
Liquid crystals
lyotropic liquid crystal
Nanoparticles
Noble metals
Phase transformations
phase transition
Phase transitions
plasmonic nanoparticle
Plasmons
Wavelengths
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Summary:The surface plasmon resonance of noble metal nanoparticles depends on properties of the nanoparticles and of the surrounding medium, which make it a suitable probe of the local ordering of anisotropic media. Besides that, no much attention was paid to the possibility of using the surface plasmon resonance as probe of phase transitions in liquid crystals. In this work, we have used the surface plasmon resonance of rather spherical Au nanoparticles of nm for studying the phase transitions of a lyotropic liquid crystal of potassium laurate, 1-decanol and water that exhibits the phase sequence I RE -N C -I on rising temperature. The wavelength of the surface plasmon resonance is blue-shifted sharply at the I RE N C transition, remaining almost constant at the N C I transition. The behaviour at the low-temperature transition can be assigned to a change in the shape anisotropy of the micelles. On the contrary, at the higher temperature transition, the local environment of the nanoparticles remains unmodified.
ISSN:0267-8292
1366-5855
DOI:10.1080/02678292.2016.1162859