Nature Communications (Feb 2019)

Nanoparticle-based hollow microstructures formed by two-stage nematic nucleation and phase separation

  • Sheida T. Riahinasab,
  • Amir Keshavarz,
  • Charles N. Melton,
  • Ahmed Elbaradei,
  • Gabrielle I. Warren,
  • Robin L. B. Selinger,
  • Benjamin J. Stokes,
  • Linda S. Hirst

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08702-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Synthetic routes to hollow microstructures typically require templates or long processing times. Here, the authors discover a two-stage nematic nucleation mechanism that allows them to assemble liquid crystal-dispersed nanoparticles into various hollow microstructures, on the order of seconds.