Our article on the nematic-smectic phase transition in microfluidics-produced liquid crystal shells, published recently in Physical Review Letters, Nematic-smectic transition under confinement in liquid crystalline colloidal shells [Hsin-Ling Liang, Stefan Schymura, Per Rudquist and Jan Lagerwall Phys. Rev. Lett., 106, 24, 247801 (2011)], was highlighted in the December 2011 newsletter of Soft Matter World.

publications

Patrick Theato, Associate Professor for Polymer Chemistry at the Institute for Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Germany, and WCU Professor at the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, SNU, is visiting the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology on Thursday 8th of December. He will give a seminar entitled “One is enough: Influencing Polymer Properties with a Single Chromophoric Unit” at 3:30p.m. in room D-122. You can download Prof. Theato’s abstract and bio sketch here.

visitors, seminar

Mr. Daniel Wenzlik, Ph.D. student of the group of Prof. Rudolf Zentel at the University of Mainz, Germany, will be at the GSCST and work with electrospinning of liquid crystalline cellulose fibers during October-November. He will give a seminar entitled “Liquid Crystalline Cellulose Derivatives” on Thursday 10th of November, at 3:45pm in room D122. You can download the abstract for the talk here. The talk will be preceded by a brief introduction to liquid crystalline polymers by Jan Lagerwall, starting 3:30pm.

visitors, seminar

Ms. Hsin-Ling Liang, joint Ph.D. student of the SNM lab and the University of Mainz, Germany, group of Prof. Rudolf Zentel, will be at the GSCST and work with liquid crystal microfluidics during October.

visitors

Our new paper on liquid crystalline shells stabilized by the polymeric surfactant F127 undergoing a nematic-smectic phase transition, and on SEM characterization of electrospun liquid crystal-containing microfibers is finally published as part of the proceedings of last year’s Italian Liquid Crystal conference proceedings. The article follows on Jan’s invited talk at the conference. It is a collaboration with the LC Nano lab at the GSCST.
Liquid Crystals in Novel Geometries prepared by Microfluidics and Electrospinning
Hsin-Ling Liang, Eva Enz, Giusy Scalia and Jan Lagerwall
Mol. Cryst. Liq. Cryst., 549, pp. 69-77 (2011)

publications

Based on a bilateral collaboration grant from NRF (Korea) and STINT (Sweden), the SNM lab will engage in a joint project together with the group of Prof. Lennart Bergström, Stockholm University, Sweden, entitled “New Functional Materials Formed by Self-Assembly of Nano-Cellulose”. The prime aim of the project, starting in the end of 2011, is to develop new and technologically attractive methods of using cellulose, the most abundant material on earth, as a low-cost renewable resource for novel nanostructured functional composite materials.

collaborations

Eva Enz, Ph.D. student of Prof. Lagerwall’s during the time at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, visits the GSCST as a guest of our collaborator group, the LC Nano lab of Prof. Giusy Scalia. She will stay throughout September and October.

visitors

We have a new paper out in Soft Matter on an exotic series of bent-core molecules exhibiting unexpected new properties. The work is a collaboration between the groups of Prof. Carsten Tschierske (Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany), Prof. Belkiz Bilgin-Eran (Yildiz Technical University, Turkey) and the SNM lab.
Effects of chain branching and chirality on liquid crystalline phases of bent-core molecules: blue phases, de Vries transitions and switching of diastereomeric states
Hale Ocak, Belkiz Bilgin-Eran, Marko Prehm, Stefan Schymura, Jan P. F. Lagerwall and Carsten Tschierske
Soft Matter, 7, 18, pp. 8266 - 8280 (2011)

publications

Dr. Isa Nishiyama, Danippon Ink & Chemicals, Tokyo, Japan, will visit the Soft Nano- & Microstructures Lab and the Liquid Crystal Nanocomposites Lab (Prof. Scalia) on Thursday 7th of July. At 16 o’clock he will give a talk entitled “Remarkable Effect of Pre-organization on the Self Assembly in Chiral Liquid Crystals” (click for abstract) in the seminar room D-301.

seminar, visitors

Our article on the nematic-smectic transition in liquid crystalline shells has just been published in Physical Review Letters.
Download it here.

publications

Antal Jakli, Professor at the Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, USA, is visiting the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology 26-28th of April. He will give a seminar entitled “Flexoelectricity for Energy Conversion in Bent-Core Liquid Crystal Fluids and Elastomers” on Thursday 28th of April, at 10 o’clock in room D122. You can download the abstract for the talk here.

seminar, visitors

Jan gave the first lecture in his course on Soft Matter Nanotechnology today. It will run every Tuesday and Thursday during the spring semester (until June 9th). For more information, see the course homepage.

teaching

Lennart Bergström, Professor in Materials Chemistry at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry at Stockholm University, Sweden, is visiting the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology 24-25th of February. He will give a seminar entitled “Nanoparticle assembly and biomimetic synthesis: versatile routes for nanostructured materials” on Thursday 24th of February, at 4p.m. (note the change of date and time!) in room D-122. You can download Prof. Bergström’s bio sketch here and the abstract for the talk here.

seminar, visitors

Our Soft Matter paper on filament formation in nematic lyotropic liquid crystals doped with high amounts of well dispersed carbon nanotubes is now available on-line. Download it here.

publications