Soft Matter and Complex Systems Seminar

The control and manipulation of electrical charge is of paramount importance for a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In this talk I address how ionic charge control can be achieved by using the orientational, i.e., liquid crystalline, order of materials. Liquid crystalline order occurs in many types of materials, which range from molecular to colloidal building blocks and (bio)polymers. Together with their possible applicability in energy storage, material science, device physics, microelectronics, and biology, it shows that the confluence of electrostatics with orientational order can lead to many interesting phenomena for a wide variety of systems. Specifically, we will demonstrate the manipulation of ionic charges by discussing anisotropic screening of charged colloid particles dispersed in nematic solvents, surface charge control mediated by liquid-crystal topological defects, and finally, the charging of point and line defects in nematic liquid crystals.


The seminar will be held on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82784273907