title: Effect of anisotropic MoS2 nanoparticles on the blue phase range of a chiral liquid crystal.
abstract: Liquid-crystalline blue phases are attracting significant interest due to their potential for applications related to tunable photonic crystals and fast optical displays. In this work a brief theoretical model is presented accounting for the impact of anisotropic nanoparticles on the blue phase stability region. This model is tested by means of high-resolution calorimetric and optical measurements of the effect of anisotropic, surface-functionalized MoS2 nanoparticles on the blue phase range of a chiral liquid crystal. The addition of these nanoparticles effectively increases the temperature range of blue phases and especially the cubic structure of blue phase I.
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lavrič
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cordoyiannis
authors.forename: Samo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kralj
authors.forename: Vassilios
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tzitzios
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nounesis
authors.forename: Zdravko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kutnjak