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Understanding complex ordered fluids: towards new materials for photonics and sensors

了解复杂的有序流体：面向光子学和传感器的新材料

基本信息

批准号：
EP/D069793/1
负责人：
Helen Gleeson
金额：
$ 47.25万
依托单位：
University of Manchester
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2006
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2006 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FD069793%2F1
关键词：
Understanding complex ordered fluids towards

项目摘要

Most people have heard of liquid crystals - they are the materials that are used in the flat-panel displays found in lap top computers, mobile phones and some of the most modern television sets. The technology is so successful that last year a liquid crystal display (LCD) was sold for every person on earth. There is always a push for faster, better display devices. These might use lower power, so are more environmentally friendly, or become more complex and faster, perhaps making them useful as specialist optoelectronic devices - things that improve telecommunications and computing. Liquid crystals aren't just high-tech materials though. They are fluids that have both function and order, and are a key component of many biological systems. For example liquid crystals help spider silk to have its amazing strength and flexibility, they cause the beautiful colours in some insects and even play a part in your brain which should be 70% liquid crystalline!The research in this proposal involves new liquid crystal materials at the forefront of technology. The materials we wish to study are being considered for use in a number of new applications where their optical properties or their sensitivity to surfaces might be useful. We can carry out a range of new experiments, including scattering x-rays of very precise energy (Resonant scattering) and measuring tiny changes in light scattered by the liquid crystal (Raman scattering), that will allow us to probe the exact kind of order that is important in our liquid crystal systems. We also want to build an experiment that will allow us to squeeze the liquid crystals to see how compressible they are. We believe that by carrying out this range of experiments and carefully combining all the information we gain, we can test theory and help theoreticians to understand how this important state of matter forms. We have new materials that will allow us to do some of the experiments we are proposing for the first time. Also, the unique combination of experiments that we are proposing will allow us to build a complete picture of whether the layers that we know form in this kind of liquid crystal are important in the process of forming the different types of liquid crystal structure. Understanding how this special kind of liquid crystal orders in the way it does has implications beyond technology. In studying physics or materials science, we try to understand why certain materials act in the way they do so that we can better use their properties, or so that chemists can improve them. Liquid crystals are an example of a fluid state of matter in which the molecules 'self-assemble' and the way in which they do depends very subtly on small changes in molecular structure or composition. How this happens is still not very well understood, despite this topic becoming increasingly important in areas like nanotechnology where materials with function are assembled into tiny structures that then act at a lager scale. Self-assembly is also a vital process in nature where, for example, the fluids we are composed of assemble in such a way that very high-level functions can take place. An important aspect of the research we plan is that we hope to understand how small changes in molecular structures in our systems lead to very large differences in their bulk physical properties. Such research has very broad relevance as it can potentially help us to understand how nature works. This final point isn't just speculative either / we recently used our understanding of liquid crystal optics to suggest how some fish see polarised light (without using Polaroid sunglasses!). There is no question that understanding self-assembly of fluids is important in many areas of science.

大多数人都听说过液晶--它们是用于笔记本电脑、手机和一些最现代电视机的平板显示器的材料。这项技术如此成功，以至于去年地球上每个人都卖出了一台液晶显示器(LCD)。人们总是在推动更快、更好的显示设备。它们可能会使用更低的功率，因此更环保，或者变得更复杂、更快，或许会使它们成为专业的光电子设备--改善电信和计算的东西。然而，液晶不仅仅是高科技材料。它们是既有功能又有秩序的流体，是许多生物系统的关键组成部分。例如，液晶帮助蜘蛛丝具有惊人的强度和弹性，它们使一些昆虫拥有美丽的颜色，甚至在你的大脑中扮演着一个角色，应该是70%的液晶！这项提议中的研究涉及技术前沿的新液晶材料。我们希望研究的材料正被考虑用于一些新的应用，在这些应用中，它们的光学性质或对表面的敏感性可能是有用的。我们可以进行一系列新的实验，包括非常精确能量的X射线散射(共振散射)和测量液晶散射光的微小变化(拉曼散射)，这将使我们能够探测在我们的液晶系统中重要的确切类型的顺序。我们还想建立一个实验，让我们能够挤压液晶，看看它们有多可压缩。我们相信，通过进行这一系列的实验，并仔细结合我们获得的所有信息，我们可以检验理论，并帮助理论家理解这种重要的物质状态是如何形成的。我们有了新材料，这将使我们能够进行我们首次提出的一些实验。此外，我们提出的独特的实验组合将使我们能够完整地了解这种液晶中我们所知的层是否在形成不同类型的液晶结构的过程中起着重要作用。理解这种特殊类型的液晶是如何以它的方式排序的，其影响超出了技术范畴。在学习物理或材料科学时，我们试图理解为什么某些材料会有这样的行为，这样我们就可以更好地利用它们的性质，或者化学家可以改进它们。液晶是物质的一种流体状态，分子在这种状态下“自组装”，其方式非常微妙地依赖于分子结构或组成的微小变化。尽管这个话题在纳米技术等领域变得越来越重要，但人们仍然不太清楚这是如何发生的。在纳米技术领域，具有功能的材料被组装成微小的结构，然后以更大的规模发挥作用。自我组装在自然界中也是一个至关重要的过程，例如，我们所组成的流体以一种可以发生非常高级功能的方式进行组装。我们计划进行的这项研究的一个重要方面是，我们希望了解我们系统中分子结构的微小变化如何导致它们整体物理性质的巨大差异。这样的研究具有非常广泛的相关性，因为它可能有助于我们理解自然是如何工作的。最后这一点也不仅仅是推测/我们最近利用我们对液晶光学的理解来暗示一些鱼是如何看到偏振光的(没有使用宝丽来太阳镜！)。毫无疑问，了解流体的自组装在许多科学领域都很重要。