Iridescence in nematics: Photonic liquid crystals of nanoplates in absence of long-range periodicity.
Minxiang Zeng, Daniel King, Dali Huang, Changwoo Do, Ling Wang, Mingfeng Chen, Shijun Lei, Pengcheng Lin, Ying Chen, Zhengdong Cheng
Author Information
Minxiang Zeng: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843. ORCID
Daniel King: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Dali Huang: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Changwoo Do: Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. ORCID
Ling Wang: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Mingfeng Chen: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Shijun Lei: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.
Pengcheng Lin: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Functional Soft Condensed Matter, School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, 510006 Guangzhou, China.
Ying Chen: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory on Functional Soft Condensed Matter, School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, 510006 Guangzhou, China.
Zhengdong Cheng: Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843; zcheng@tamu.edu.
Photonic materials with positionally ordered structure can interact strongly with light to produce brilliant structural colors. Here, we found that the nonperiodic nematic liquid crystals of nanoplates can also display structural color with only significant orientational order. Owing to the loose stacking of the nematic nanodiscs, such colloidal dispersion is able to reflect a broad-spectrum wavelength, of which the reflection color can be further enhanced by adding carbon nanoparticles to reduce background scattering. Upon the addition of electrolytes, such vivid colors of nematic dispersion can be fine-tuned via electrostatic forces. Furthermore, we took advantage of the fluidity of the nematic structure to create a variety of colorful arts. It was expected that the concept of implanting nematic features in photonic structure of lyotropic nanoparticles may open opportunities for developing advanced photonic materials for display, sensing, and art applications.
