SAXS measurements of nanoparticles in Liquid Crystals

Chiral Blue Phase liquid crystals, BPLCs, have unique 3D cubic crystal structures and ultrafast response times to electrical fields. Many efforts are underway to develop photonic or optoelectronic BPLC devices but are hindered by narrow BP temperature ranges, widened by adding polymers or nanoparticle, NPs. Inorganic NPs are also added to increase functionality and lower high driving voltages needed for display applications. We previously showed that 4 nm gold NPs in BPLCs reversibly form giant 3D cubic crystals but apart from our study, the NP spatial distributions, important for applications and understanding BPLC properties, have not been characterized. Small angle Xray scattering, SAXS, will be applied to study the effect of the NP size and shape on the NP spatial distribution and BPLC thermal stability.