title: Photo-thermal effects in gold nanoparticles dispersed in thermotropic nematic liquid crystals.
abstract: The last few years have seen a growing interest in the ability of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) to control temperature at the nanoscale. Under a suitable optical radiation, MNPs feature an enhanced light absorption/scattering, thus turning into an ideal nano-source of heat, remotely controllable by means of light. In this framework, we report our recent efforts on modeling and characterizing the photo-thermal effects observed in gold nanoparticles (GNPs) dispersed in thermotropic Liquid Crystals (LCs). Photo-induced temperature variations in GNPs dispersed in Nematic LCs (NLCs) have been studied by implementing an ad hoc theoretical model based on the thermal heating equation applied to an anisotropic medium. Theoretical predictions have been verified by performing photo-heating experiments on a sample containing a small percentage of GNPs dispersed in NLCs. Both theory and experiments represent an important achievement in understanding the physics of heat transfer at the nanoscale, with applications ranging from photonics to nanomedicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Calabria, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende (CS), Italy. CNR - NSNOTEC - U.O.S. Li.Cryl Cosenza.. luigia.pezzi@fis.unical.it.
authors.forename: Luigia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pezzi
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Sio
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Veltri
authors.forename: Tiziana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Placido
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Comparelli
authors.forename: Maria Lucia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Curri
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agostiano
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tabiryan
authors.forename: Cesare
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Umeton
mesh_terms: D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D006046:Gold