Two‐Step Self‐Assembly and Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Behavior of TiO 2 Nanorods

Several self‐assembly structures of anatase TiO 2 nanorods were obtained by a two‐step assembly process, and these structures formed different lyotropic liquid crystal in solution. Primary self‐assembly occurred in synthesis process and formed two structures, in the morphology of ribbon and honeycom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nanomaterials 2012, Vol.2012 (1)
Main Authors: Ren, Zhimin, Chen, Chao, Hu, Rong, Mai, Kaiguang, Qian, Guodong, Wang, Zhiyu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Assembly
Honeycomb
Liquid crystals
Nanocrystals
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Nanorods
Ribbons
Self assembly
Spherulites
Studies
Titanium dioxide
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Summary:Several self‐assembly structures of anatase TiO 2 nanorods were obtained by a two‐step assembly process, and these structures formed different lyotropic liquid crystal in solution. Primary self‐assembly occurred in synthesis process and formed two structures, in the morphology of ribbon and honeycomb, respectively. Secondary‐assembly took place when the products were placed at lower temperature, where unique structures were obtained as the relative amount of ribbon and honeycomb changed with the increase of TiO 2 concentration. These structures showed nematic, spherulites, and lamellar phases. The mechanism of the two‐step self‐assembly was clarified. The driving force of primary assembly is deduced to be anisotropic attractive force, for NRs can assemble at any concentrations, while gravity is the driving force of the secondary assembly. It is worth mentioning that this paper is the first report about spherulites composing of anatase TiO 2 nanorods. The spherulites obtained were negative or of tangential type, and its structure, growth process, and temperature influences were also investigated. The spherulites may have promising application in temperature microsensor.
ISSN:1687-4110
1687-4129
DOI:10.1155/2012/180989