Chirality exists in the isotropic liquid above blue phase III

ABSTRACT

The chirality of spherical liquid crystal droplets was investigated in this study. We report the effect of confinement on blue phase III (BPIII) spheres. We investigated the behaviours of the spherical BPIII droplets under the absence of surfactants or nanoparticles, spherical droplets in water, and polymerised capsules in air. Optical activity was observed between the transparent isotropic liquid phase and the bluish BPIII in the spherical BPIII droplets and capsules. This behaviour was not observed in the spherical cubic BP samples. Optical activities in the isotropic-phase temperature range were specific to BPIII. Furthermore, the phase transition behaviours of BPIII differed based on the sample confinement conditions, even for samples with the same mixture composition. Spherical confinement induced spontaneous microscopic chiral order formation at the isotropic liquid temperature range in the BPIII liquid crystal composition.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• blue phases
• chiral liquid crystals
• droplets
• polymerisation
• chirality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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