Engineered Anisotropic Fluids of Rare‐Earth Nanomaterials

The self‐assembly of inorganic nanoparticles into well‐ordered structures in the absence of solvents is generally hindered by van der Waals forces, leading to random aggregates between them. To address the problem, we functionalized rigid rare‐earth (RE) nanoparticles with a layer of flexible polyme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2020-10, Vol.59 (41), p.18213-18217
Main Authors: Shao, Baiqi, Wan, Sikang, Yang, Chenjing, Shen, Jianlei, Li, Yiwen, You, Hongpeng, Chen, Dong, Fan, Chunhai, Liu, Kai, Zhang, Hongjie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropic fluids
anisotropic luminescence
Anisotropy
Fluidity
Liquid crystals
Luminescence
nanoengineering
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Nanorods
Nanospheres
Nanotechnology
Nanowires
Optical properties
Polymers
rare-earth materials
self-assembly
Shearing
Solvents
thermotropic liquid crystals
Van der Waals forces
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Summary:The self‐assembly of inorganic nanoparticles into well‐ordered structures in the absence of solvents is generally hindered by van der Waals forces, leading to random aggregates between them. To address the problem, we functionalized rigid rare‐earth (RE) nanoparticles with a layer of flexible polymers by electrostatic complexation. Consequently, an ordered and solvent‐free liquid crystal (LC) state of RE nanoparticles was realized. The RE nanomaterials including nanospheres, nanorods, nanodiscs, microprisms, and nanowires all show a typical nematic LC phase with one‐dimensional orientational order, while their microstructures strongly depend on the particles’ shape and size. Interestingly, the solvent‐free thermotropic LCs possess an extremely wide temperature range from −40 °C to 200 °C. The intrinsic ordering and fluidity endow anisotropic luminescence properties in the system of shearing‐aligned RE LCs, offering potential applications in anisotropic optical micro‐devices. A series of solvent‐free thermotropic liquid crystals are fabricated by the introduction of a flexible layer around the rigid core of rare‐earth nanomaterials. All of the engineered anisotropic fluids show typical nematic LC phases with size‐ and shape‐dependent microstructure. Such intrinsic ordering and fluidity endow these materials with unique anisotropic luminescence properties.
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.202007676