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Shaping Liquid Crystals with Gold Nanoparticles: Helical Assemblies with Tunable and Hierarchical Structures Via Thin‐Film Cooperative Interactions
Author(s) -
Bagiński Maciej,
Tupikowska Martyna,
GonzálezRubio Guillermo,
Wójcik Michał,
Lewandowski Wiktor
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201904581
Subject(s) - materials science , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , plasmon , colloidal gold , liquid crystal , nanocomposite , metamaterial , structuring , liquid crystalline , optoelectronics , finance , economics
The availability of helical assemblies of plasmonic nanoparticles with precisely controlled and tunable structures can play a key role in the future development of chiral plasmonics and metamaterials. Here, a strategy to efficiently yield helical structures based on the cooperative interactions of liquid crystals and gold nanoparticles in thin films is developed. These nanocomposites exhibit exceptional long‐range hierarchical order across length scales, which results from the growth mechanism of nanoparticle‐coated twisted nanoribbons and their ability to form organized bundles. The helical assembly formation is governed by the presence of rationally functionalized nanoparticles. Importantly, the thickness of the achieved nanocomposites can be reversibly reconfigured owing to the polymorphic nature of the liquid crystal. The versatility of the proposed approach is demonstrated by preparing helices assembled from nanoparticles of different geometries and dimensions (spherical and rod‐like). The described strategy may become an enabling technology for structuring nanoparticle assemblies with high precision and fabricating optically active materials.