Solodkov, NV orcid.org/0000-0002-5120-1502, Saxena, A and Jones, JC orcid.org/0000-0002-2310-0800 (2020) Electrically Driven Rotation and Nonreciprocal Motion of Microparticles in Nematic Liquid Crystals. Small, 16 (40). 2003352. ISSN 1613-6810
Abstract
Dispersion of microparticles in nematic liquid crystals offers a novel means for controlling both their orientation and position through the combination of topology and external stimuli. Here, cuboidal and triangular prism shaped microparticles in parallel plate capacitor cells filled with a nematic liquid crystal are studied. Experimental observations are compared with numerical simulations to show that the optimal orientation of the particles is determined by their aspect rations, the relative separation gap of their containers and the applied voltage. It is observed that in systems that allow unrestricted particle rotation, the long axes of the particles are able to fully align themselves with the external electric field. However, when particle rotation is geometrically restricted, it is found that increasing the voltage past a critical value causes the short axis of the particle to realign with the electric field due to anchoring breaking. It is shown that symmetry of the particles then plays a key role in their dynamics following the removal of the electric field, allowing the triangular prisms to travel perpendicular to the applied electric field, whereas only rotation is possible for the cuboidal particles.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | liquid crystal dispersions; microparticles; nematic fluids; nonreciprocal motion; topological electrophoresis |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Physics and Astronomy (Leeds) > Soft Matter Physics (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/S029214/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 17 Aug 2020 12:08 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:22 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/smll.202003352 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:164173 |