title: Impact of BaTiO(3) nanoparticles on pretransitional effects in liquid crystalline dodecylcyanobiphenyl.
abstract: The pretransitional behavior of dodecylcyanobiphenyl (12CB) (isotropic-smectic-A-solid mesomorphism) with d=50nmBaTiO(3) nanoparticles (NPs) linked to the cubic phase was monitored via temperature studies of dielectric constant. Tests were carried out in the isotropic, liquid crystal mesomorphic, and solid phases. For each phase transition the same value of the critical exponent α∼0.5 was obtained, including nanocolloids. All phase transitions show the weakly discontinuous nature. The temperature metric of the discontinuity ΔT notably decreases when adding nanoparticles. The addition of nanoparticles first decreases the dielectric constant by approximately 50% in comparison with pure 12CB, but already for a concentration ∼x=0.4% NP an increase over 50% takes place. It is notable that for the latter concentration unique hallmarks of the pretransitional effect emerge also for the solid-mesophase transition. All these indicate the important impact of nanoparticles on multimolecular mesoscale fluctuations.
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.|Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ulica Sokołowska 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Rzoska
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.|Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ulica Sokołowska 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Starzonek
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, ulica Sokołowska 29/37, 01-142 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Drozd-Rzoska
authors.affiliation: Military University of Technology, Institute of Chemistry, ulica Kaliskiego 2, 00-908 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Czupryński
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chmiel
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gaura
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michulec
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Szczypek
authors.affiliation: Silesian Intercollegiate Centre for Education and Interdisciplinary Research & Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, ulica 75 Pułku Piechoty 1A, 41-500 Chorzów, Poland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Walas