Patel, M;
Radhakrishnan, ANP;
Bescher, L;
Hunter-Sellars, E;
Schmidt-Hansberg, B;
Amstad, E;
Ibsen, S;
(2021)
Temperature-induced liquid crystal microdroplet formation in a partially miscible liquid mixture.
Soft Matter
, 17
(4)
pp. 947-954.
10.1039/d0sm01742f.
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Abstract
Liquid-in-liquid droplets are typically generated by the partitioning of immiscible fluids, e.g. by mechanical shearing with macroscopic homogenisers or microfluidic flow focussing. In contrast, partially miscible liquids with a critical solution temperature display a temperature-dependent mixing behaviour. In this work, we demonstrate how, for a blend of methanol (MeOH) and the thermotropic liquid crystal (LC) 4-Cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), cooling from a miscible to an immiscible state allows the controlled formation of microdroplets. A near-room-temperature-induced phase separation leads to nucleation, growth and coalescence of mesogen-rich droplets. The size and number of the droplets is tunable on the microscopic scale by variation of temperature quench depth and cooling rate. Further cooling induces a phase transition to nematic droplets with radial configuration, well-defined sizes and stability over the course of an hour. This temperature-induced approach offers a scalable and reversible alternative to droplet formation with relevance in diagnostics, optoelectronics, materials templating and extraction processes.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Temperature-induced liquid crystal microdroplet formation in a partially miscible liquid mixture |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1039/d0sm01742f |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SM01742F |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10116791 |
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