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The chiral liquid crystalline self-organization of cellulose nanocrystals into helical arrangements, giving the resulting materials photonic crystal properties and enhanced mechanical behavior, are comprehensively summarized and compared with other rod-like nanoparticles, for example, carbon nanotubes and fd virus. The consequences of the sensitive balance between liquid crystal formation and glass/gel formation are discussed in detail, in particular regarding the development toward control of helix pitch and orientation. Important topics for future studies are identified and suggestions for novel applications are made.
The hierarchical self-organization of appropriately functionalized disc-shaped molecules leads to the formation of discotic liquid crystals (DLCs). Columnar phases formed by these intriguing materials are emerging as one-dimensional organic semiconducting materials. Recently, their hybridization with various metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles has been realized to alter and improve their properties. This article provides an overview on the development in the field of newly immersed discotic nanoscience, a sub-field of liquid crystal (LC) nanoscience.
Scanning a La-doped BiFeO3 epitaxial thin film with a biased AFM tip, we produce straight stripe one-dimensional nanostructures in which two competing polymorphic ferroelectric phases appear alternately at the interval of ∼100 nm showing the enhancement of electronic conduction at the phase boundaries. We can create, switch and erase the eight-variant stripe nanostructures in a reversible and deterministic way by controlling the tip scanning direction and tip biased voltage. The findings provide a new pathway into one-dimensional nanostructures and versatile patterns of ferroelectric domains and interfaces.
Lui et al.1 report new ‘perovskite-based’ solar cells having a photon-to-electron-conversion-efficiency (PCE) of a remarkable 15.4%. Traditional photovoltaic technology is dominated by c-Si, with inorganic thin film entrants CdTe, CIS and GIGS making substantial market inroads. Pipeline technologies such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and organic solar cells (OSCs)2 promise ultra-low manufacturing costs as well as light-weight, flexible modules. As yet, the ‘pipeline’ is yet to deliver commercial product with long-term stability and module-scale PCEs being hurdles. The perovskite technology emerged from DSSCs as p-type materials, and then as combinatorial replacements for the dye and hole-transport components.3
