Self-organized internal architectures of chiral micro-particles

The internal architecture of polymeric self-assembled chiral micro-particles is studied by exploring the effect of the chirality, of the particle sizes, and of the interface/surface properties in the ordering of the helicoidal planes. The experimental investigations, performed by means of different...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Clementina Provenzano, Alfredo Mazzulla, Pasquale Pagliusi, Maria P. De Santo, Giovanni Desiderio, Ida Perrotta, Gabriella Cipparrone
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2014-02-01
Series:APL Materials
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4863837
Description
Summary:The internal architecture of polymeric self-assembled chiral micro-particles is studied by exploring the effect of the chirality, of the particle sizes, and of the interface/surface properties in the ordering of the helicoidal planes. The experimental investigations, performed by means of different microscopy techniques, show that the polymeric beads, resulting from light induced polymerization of cholesteric liquid crystal droplets, preserve both the spherical shape and the internal self-organized structures. The method used to create the micro-particles with controlled internal chiral architectures presents great flexibility providing several advantages connected to the acquired optical and photonics capabilities and allowing to envisage novel strategies for the development of chiral colloidal systems and materials.
ISSN:2166-532X