#liquid crystals

[dozydawn]

[noosphe-re]

Dierking, I. Chiral Liquid Crystals: Structures, Phases, Effects. Symmetry 2014, 6, 444-472. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym6020444

[materialsscienceandengineering]

These clear windows can secretly produce solar power

Cholesteric liquid crystal coatings enable transparent, unidirectional solar concentrators compatible with modern windows.

A research team led by Nanjing University has introduced a transparent, colorless, and unidirectional solar concentrator that can be directly coated onto standard window glass. Utilizing cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) multilayers with submicron lateral periodicities, this diffractive-type solar concentrator (CUSC) selectively guides sunlight toward the edge of the window where photovoltaic cells are installed. The study appears in PhotoniX. Unlike conventional luminescent or scattering-based concentrators, which often suffer from visual distortion, low efficiency, and poor scalability, the new CUSC achieves broadband polarization-selective diffraction and waveguiding without compromising clarity. The device maintains a high average visible transmittance (64.2%) and color rendering index (91.3), enabling clean energy generation without altering the appearance of the window.

Read more.

[bpod-bpod]

Going Through Phases

The mixing of a molecule with one pole that's water-loving and one water-repelling (amphiphilic) with a solvent (such as water) results in a solution that behaves like a solid and a liquid – a lyotropic liquid crystal. Here, physicists uncover details of their behaviour using, Sunset Yellow that can act as a lyotropic liquid crystal, and reveal how it self-assembles into multiple phases, and how phase patterns and sizes are affected by forces – insights for honing their use in targeted drug delivery and biological sensing

Read the published research article here

Video from work by Ana Bensabat and colleagues

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), July 2026

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[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Twisting in the Flow

What happens to liquid crystals in a flow? In this video, researchers look at liquid crystals flowing through the narrow gap of a microfluidic device. Initially, all the crystals are oriented the same way, as if they are logs rolling down a river. (Video and image credit: D. Jia and I. Bischofberger) Read the full article

[amymac1964]

The Earth Resonates with me.

I am a liquid crystal receiver and I am tuned in.

[communicants]

Liquid Crystals (Jean Painlevé, 1978)

[alithographica]

A similar principle explains color-shifting mugs, spoons, and other items. Rather than using liquid crystals, they use leuco dyes. Leuco dyes also respond to heat by subtly moving molecules, but unlike liquid crystals they only have two forms (one where the color is visible, one where it isn’t). They are widely used because they are cheaper and easier to work with than liquid crystals.

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Transcript below the break.

The Science of Mood Rings

(Illustration of two mood rings, which have rainbow colors)

Mood rings are accessories that change color in response to the wearer’s mood - or, more accurately, their surface temperature. The color shifts due to a layer of thermochromic liquid crystals. (Thermochromic = Changes color in response to heat; Liquid crystals = A substance that flows like a liquid but has some internal order)

Fingers (and other extremities) change temperature due to a variety of factors, including mood. When an individual feels calm or happy, blood readily circulates throughout the body, keeping the extremities warm. When an individual is stressed, the body’s natural response is to constrict vessels and push more blood into critical areas like the brain and major muscles. This tends to cool down the extremities.

The specific liquid crystals used in a ring vary by manufacturer. Most use a mixture of cholesteryl benzoate, cholesteryl oleyl carbonate, and cholesteryl nonanoate, all of which are long carbon-based molecules that arrange themselves in roughly organized layers. When the temperature changes, the distance between the layers changes. This affects how light reflects off the surface, producing different colors.

(Illustration showing a fairly organized set of red rods -> temperature change -> illustration of less orderly blue rods, indicating a color change)

References: http://www.chymist.com/Liquid%20Crystals.pdf http://www.explainthatstuff.com/thermochromic-materials.html