Recent advances on morphological, dielectric, electrical, electro-optical, and optical features of quantum dots-liquid crystals nanocomposites
Amit Kumar, Amit Kumar, Yogita Sagar, Dharmendra Pratap Singh, Gautam Singh, Jai Prakash, Ajay Kumar, Ajay Kumar
Abstract
The evolution of nanotechnology has offered an opportunity for synergistic collaboration with liquid crystal (LC) field to envisage novel properties. A trace of nanoscale guests has been found capable of significantly improving the display characteristics of LCs. The quantum dots (QDs), by virtue of quantum confinement and a large dipole moment, have shown significant potential in inducing interesting features in LC materials such as tunable alignment, low threshold switching, faster response, and enhance luminescent intensity. The surface interaction between LC molecule and ligands attached to QDs, dipole–dipole interaction between LC molecules and QDs, charge transfer between LC molecules and QDs, charge releasing from QDs, formation of self-assembly of QDs at defect sites of LC matrix, etc., are found to be the governing factors for the resulting characteristics of QDs/LC composites. The QDs dispersion in LC matrix could, however, result non-monotonic modification in the properties of the composites and hence, it is difficult to generalize the resultant features of the composites. In the present review, we have made a systematic analysis of different types of interactions to understand the observed properties of LCs/QDs composites. Importantly, we have critically outlined the technological challenges in the utilization of QDs in LC-based systems and the potential applications of these systems in displays, photonics, QD-LC memory, non-linear optics, and anisotropy enabled self-assembly of QDs.