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H J Coles - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • improving the stability of Organosiloxane smectic a liquid crystal random lasers using redox dopants
    Optical Materials, 2015
    Co-Authors: Ammar A Khan, Damian J Gardiner, Stephen M Morris, Malik M Qasim, Timothy D Wilkinson, H J Coles
    Abstract:

    Abstract In this paper, we focus on the development of liquid crystal (LC) visible-light scattering devices for random lasers. These light-scattering devices are based upon binary mixtures that consist of an Organosiloxane smectic A LC and a wide temperature range nematogen LC. Both the temperature range of the smectic A phase and the dielectric anisotropy of the binary mixture are increased compared with that of the neat Organosiloxane compound. In the latter case, the increase in the dielectric anisotropy results in a reduction of the magnitude of the electric field required to induce a clear state. Furthermore, it is found that the electric field threshold continues to decrease with increasing concentration of the nematic compound. For the random laser devices, the Pyrromethene 597 laser dye was added to a mixture that was optimized for scattering and it was found that the absorption properties of the dye becomes unstable in the presence of the electro-hydrodynamic instabilities that are required to generate scattering in the LC cells. This is believed to be due to electro-chemical reactions that occur at the electrodes. To avoid dye degradation and ensure repeatable electro-optic behaviour, a reduction–oxidation (redox) couple is dispersed within the dye-doped binary mixture. It is shown that the addition of redox dopants helps to stabilize the dye in the scattering mixtures, and also increases the long-term repeatability of the scattering behaviour. Finally, we conclude by characterizing the random laser emission of the dye-doped binary mixture and demonstrate improved stability.

  • Improving the stability of Organosiloxane smectic A liquid crystal random lasers using redox dopants
    Optical Materials, 2015
    Co-Authors: Aa Khan, Sm Morris, Dj Gardiner, Qasim Malik, Wilkinson Timothy, H J Coles
    Abstract:

    This report is focus on the development of liquid crystal (LC) vis ible - light scattering devices for random lasers. These light - scattering devices are based upon binary mixtures that consist of an Organosiloxane smectic A LC and a wide temperature range nematogen LC. Both the temperature range of the smectic A phase and t he dielectric anisotropy of the binary mixture are increased compared with that of the neat Organosiloxane compound. In the latter case, the increase in the dielectric anisotropy results in a reduction of the magnitude of the electric field required to ind uce a clear state. Furthermore, it is found that the electric field threshold continues to decrease with increasing concentration of the nematic compound. For the random laser devices, the pyrromethene 597 laser dye was added to a mixture that was optimize d for scattering and it was found that the absorption properties of the dye becomes unstable in the presence of the electro - hydrodynamic instabilities that are required to generate scattering in the LC cells. This is believed to be due to electro - chemical reactions that occur at the electrodes. To avoid dye degradation and ensure repeatable electro - optic behaviour, a reduction - oxidation (redox) couple is dispersed within the dye - doped binary mixture. It is shown that the addition of redox dopants helps to s tabilize the dye in the scattering mixtures, and also increases the long - term repeatability of the scattering behaviour. Finally, we conclude by characterizing the random laser emission of the dye - doped binary mixture and demonstrate improved stability.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final published version is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925346715000816

  • Low molar mass Organosiloxane liquid crystals for telecommunication applications
    2012
    Co-Authors: Hu X, Hadeler O, H J Coles
    Abstract:

    Mixtures of two proprietary low molar mass Organosiloxane liquid crystals were studied in order to improve their alignment and optimize their electro-optic properties for telecommunication applications. Over a certain concentration range, mixtures exhibited an isotropic-chiral smectic A-chiral smectic C (Iso-SmA*-SmC*) phase sequence leading to exceptionally good alignment. At room temperature, the spontaneous polarization of these samples was reduced from 225 nC cm -2 in the pure SmC* liquid crystal to as low as 75 nC cm -2 in the mixture. Within this concentration range, the ferroelectric tilt angle could be varied between 35° and 15°, while the rise time decreased by 69.4%. The rise times were < 45 μs for moderate electric fields of ± 10 V μm -1 in the SmC* phase and ∼ 4 μs, independent of electric field, in the SmA* phase. At λ = 1550 nm, these mixtures exhibited very large extinction ratios of {\sim} 60 dB for binary switching in the SmC* phase and ∼ 55 dB continuous variable attenuation in the SmA* phase. © 2012 IEEE

  • highly anisotropic conductivity in Organosiloxane liquid crystals
    Journal of Applied Physics, 2006
    Co-Authors: Damian J Gardiner, H J Coles
    Abstract:

    In this paper, we present the conductivity and dielectric characterization of three homologous series of smectic A siloxane containing liquid crystals. The materials studied include one monomesogenic series, which consists of a 4-(ω-alkyloxy)-4′-cyanobiphenyl unit terminated by pentamethyldisiloxane, and two bimesogenic series, which consist of twin 4-(ω-alkyloxy)-4′-cyanobiphenyls joined via tetramethyldisiloxane or decamethylpentasiloxane. All of the compounds exhibit wide temperature range enantiotropic smectic A phases; the effect of the siloxane moiety is to suppress nematic morphology even in the short chain homologs. We find that these compounds exhibit a highly anisotropic conductivity: the value perpendicular to the director is to up to 200 times that parallel to the director. For the nonsiloxane analog 4-(ω-octyl)-4′-cyanobiphenyl (8CB), this value is approximately 2. It is also found that the dielectric anisotropy is reduced significantly; a typical value is ∼1 compared to 8.4 for 8CB. We propo...

  • Organosiloxane liquid crystals for fast switching bistable scattering devices
    Journal of Physics D, 2006
    Co-Authors: Damian J Gardiner, H J Coles
    Abstract:

    In this paper, we investigate the dependence of the bistable electro-optic response of Organosiloxane based smectic A liquid crystals on key material properties; the modes are optically scattering ( 1 kHz), respectively. The scattering mode is generated by motion of doped ionic species and is dependent upon the conductivity anisotropy of the liquid crystal; the clear mode occurs through dielectric coupling at frequencies sufficient to inhibit ionic conduction. The pure siloxane liquid crystals exhibit unusually high anisotropic ionic conductivities; the ratio of the components parallel and perpendicular to the director is up to 0.005; for analogous non-siloxane based liquid crystals the value is ~0.5. However, the pure materials possess low dielectric anisotropy compared with similar polar liquid crystals, e.g. 0.8 compared with 8.4. Based upon these observations, we prepare exemplar mixtures of Organosiloxane with 4-(ω-pentyloxy)-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5OCB) as a dielectric additive. These systems show beneficial properties: highly anisotropic conductivity coupled with an increase in the dielectric anisotropy. As a result, the electro-optic responses of these mixtures show a significant improvement upon the pure compounds; for example, for the 49% w/w mixture it is found that the response time of the optically clear mode is significantly reduced, e.g. from 130 ms (at 280 V rms) to 5 ms at an applied voltage of 102 V rms. We conclude that simple mixtures, using an Organosiloxane as the bulk component, have much promise for use in bistable, electro-optic storage and display devices.

Qiang Fang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

Laurent Gonon - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Untangling the Condensation Network of Organosiloxanes on Nanoparticles using 2D 29Si–29Si Solid-State NMR Enhanced by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization
    2015
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Gaël De Paëpe
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it is shown that the required reaction conditions favor lateral polymerization and domain growth. Moreover, the natural abundance correlation experiments permitted the estimation of 2JSi–O–Si-couplings (13.8 ± 1.4 Hz for surface silica) and interatomic distances (3.04 ± 0.08 Å for surface silica) since complications associated with many-spin systems and also sensitivity were avoided. The work detailed herein not only demonstrates the possibility of using MAS-DNP to greatly facilitate the acquisition of 2D 29Si–29Si correlation spectra but also shows that this technique can be used in a routine fashion to characterize surface grafting networks and gain structural constraints, which can be related to a system’s chemical and physical properties

  • untangling the condensation network of Organosiloxanes on nanoparticles using 2d 29si 29si solid state nmr enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it ...

Guillaume Monin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Untangling the Condensation Network of Organosiloxanes on Nanoparticles using 2D 29Si–29Si Solid-State NMR Enhanced by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization
    2015
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Gaël De Paëpe
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it is shown that the required reaction conditions favor lateral polymerization and domain growth. Moreover, the natural abundance correlation experiments permitted the estimation of 2JSi–O–Si-couplings (13.8 ± 1.4 Hz for surface silica) and interatomic distances (3.04 ± 0.08 Å for surface silica) since complications associated with many-spin systems and also sensitivity were avoided. The work detailed herein not only demonstrates the possibility of using MAS-DNP to greatly facilitate the acquisition of 2D 29Si–29Si correlation spectra but also shows that this technique can be used in a routine fashion to characterize surface grafting networks and gain structural constraints, which can be related to a system’s chemical and physical properties

  • untangling the condensation network of Organosiloxanes on nanoparticles using 2d 29si 29si solid state nmr enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it ...

Vincent H Mareau - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.

  • Untangling the Condensation Network of Organosiloxanes on Nanoparticles using 2D 29Si–29Si Solid-State NMR Enhanced by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization
    2015
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Gaël De Paëpe
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it is shown that the required reaction conditions favor lateral polymerization and domain growth. Moreover, the natural abundance correlation experiments permitted the estimation of 2JSi–O–Si-couplings (13.8 ± 1.4 Hz for surface silica) and interatomic distances (3.04 ± 0.08 Å for surface silica) since complications associated with many-spin systems and also sensitivity were avoided. The work detailed herein not only demonstrates the possibility of using MAS-DNP to greatly facilitate the acquisition of 2D 29Si–29Si correlation spectra but also shows that this technique can be used in a routine fashion to characterize surface grafting networks and gain structural constraints, which can be related to a system’s chemical and physical properties

  • untangling the condensation network of Organosiloxanes on nanoparticles using 2d 29si 29si solid state nmr enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization
    Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014
    Co-Authors: Daniel Lee, Guillaume Monin, Nghia Tuan Duong, Isabel Zamanillo Lopez, Michel Bardet, Vincent H Mareau, Laurent Gonon
    Abstract:

    Silica (SiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) were functionalized by silanization to produce a surface covered with Organosiloxanes. Information about the surface coverage and the nature, if any, of Organosiloxane polymerization, whether parallel or perpendicular to the surface, is highly desired. To this extent, two-dimensional homonuclear 29Si solid-state NMR could be employed. However, owing to the sensitivity limitations associated with the low natural abundance (4.7%) of 29Si and the difficulty and expense of isotopic labeling here, this technique would usually be deemed impracticable. Nevertheless, we show that recent developments in the field of dynamic nuclear polarization under magic angle spinning (MAS-DNP) could be used to dramatically increase the sensitivity of the NMR experiments, resulting in a timesaving factor of ∼625 compared to conventional solid-state NMR. This allowed the acquisition of previously infeasible data. Using both through-space and through-bond 2D 29Si–29Si correlation experiments, it ...