Responsive Liquid Crystal-Aqueous Interfaces Reporting Mechanical and Chemical Changes
19th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Conference (NanoTR-19), Ankara, Türkiye, 26 - 29 Ağustos 2025, ss.5, (Özet Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: Ankara
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.5
- Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The long-range orientational ordering and the sensitivity of the liquid crystal (LCs) interfaces against external stimuli offer opportunities towards new-generation sensing platforms. We investigate the structures and structural transitions in LCs induced by mechanical and chemical changes occurring at their interfaces with aqueous phases. We employ LC-aqueous interfaces formed by (i) emulsification of thermotropic LCs in aqueous phases, (ii) supporting LCs in microwells, and (iii) stabilization of LC-aqueous soft interfaces (virtual walls) by the preferential wetting of the two phases on a heterogeneous interface with distinct hydrophilic and hydrophobic functionalization. Our studies to date revealed that (i) LCs are responsive against mechanical shear and interfacial alignment conditions in microfluidics that result in easily observable optical changes, (ii) LCs respond to the fusion of the vesicles formed by phospholipids, which provide information about the mechanical properties of the vesicles, (iii) LCs can report aqueous phase reactions with no significant influence on the reaction kinetics. These results demonstrated that the LC-aqueous soft interfaced platforms present a promising candidate for future high-throughput sensing platforms.