Gold nanoparticles (NPs) grafted with promesogenic ligands show temperature induced liquid crystalline polymorphism with unique phase sequence: from smectic to columnar structure. Most studied liquid crystals made of NPs show only simple mesomorphism but authors in this Hot Article have shown that NPs can also give complex, temperature tuneable structures.
Temperature-controlled liquid crystalline polymorphism of gold nanoparticles
Michal M. Wojcik, Monika Gora, Jozef Mieczkowski, Jerzy Romiszewski, Ewa Gorecka and Damian Pociecha
Soft Matter, 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06436C
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