Size‐Dependent Ordering of Liquid Crystals Observed in Polymeric Capsules with Micrometer and Smaller Diameters

Abstract

Made to order: Aqueous dispersions of polymer-encapsulated liquid crystal (LC) droplets were synthesized with precise interfacial chemistry and sizes in the micrometer-to-sub-micrometer range. Size-dependent changes in LC ordering could be observed. Study of the competition between size and interfacial chemistry on LC ordering enables size-dependent properties of LC droplets to be exploited in applications such as photonics and sensing.