Enhanced dielectric, electrical, and electro-optic properties: investigation of the interaction of dispersed CdSe/ZnS quantum dots in 8OCB liquid crystals in the intermediate phase

author
Elsa Lani, Aloka Sinha

abstract
At present, the progress in developing new liquid crystal materials for next-generation applications mainly focuses on improving the physical properties of liquid crystal systems.

Recent research progress has shown that functionalized nanoparticles embedded in LC matrix can significantly alter the properties of LC materials based on the interaction between host molecules and guest particles. In this regard, this study reports the effects of core-shell CdSe/ZnS quantum dot dispersion on the dielectric, electrical, and electro-optical properties of 8OCB LC doped with different concentrations. The doped samples exhibit ion release behavior, and this effect becomes more pronounced when the doping concentration in the liquid chromatography system increases to 0.2 wt%. It is explained that due to the enhanced interaction between QD ligands and rod-shaped LC molecules, quantum dots have obtained the form of growing handle shaped ellipsoids.

Among all the studied samples, significant temperature changes were observed in the diffusion constant, conductivity, ion mobility, and average relaxation time of ions. In addition, the thermal distribution of dielectric anisotropy, threshold voltage, and opening elastic constant all show a decreasing trend, with an increasing doping concentration. The dual relaxation mechanisms of corresponding nematic and dimeric materials were experimentally studied, providing two rotational viscosities in both the original and quantum dot dispersed LC samples. The transmittance voltage curve reveals the presence of residual values in dispersed samples and is related to the volatile memory effect. In the original liquid chromatography system, the photoluminescence intensity of low doped samples was slightly enhanced and further decreased with increasing doping concentration.

All these findings indicate that functionalized quantum dots make a significant contribution to the studied performance in terms of the interaction between LC and doped materials. This study will further elucidate the potential application of quantum dots in future liquid chromatography-based devices and the selection of optimal quantum dot concentrations based on their properties.

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Source: Laser Net