journal article·2025-09Open access

Fabrication of Chiral Liquid Crystal Pinwheel Arrays Through Capillarity‐Assisted Particle Assembly

Hee Seong Yun, Haijie Ren, Yu Ma, Zazo Cazimir Meijs, Lucio Isa, Rui Zhang, Dong Ki Yoon

Small· Volume 21· Issue 38

Abstract

Abstract Nucleation of the phase transition in liquid crystals (LCs) is influenced by elastic distortions around topological defects. While conventional studies have focused on isotropic‐LC transitions upon cooling, nucleation in chiral LCs is investigated using colloidal arrays produced by capillarity‐assisted particle assembly (CAPA) upon heating to spatially control the nucleation of the isotropic phase rather than that of the LC phase, enabling the fabrication of chiral pinwheel arrays. Optical analysis and Landau‐de Gennes simulations reveal that pinwheel arrays arise from the interplay of LC chirality, planar anchoring conditions at the isotropic‐LC boundary, and boojum defects on the particles. By manipulating particle placement and employing photopolymerizable LCs, dual alternating chiral and stabilized pinwheel arrays are realized. This work provides insights into chirality‐driven phase transitions upon heating and offers a new strategy for designing LC materials with controlled anisotropic and chiral architectures.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Liquid Crystal Research Advancements · Advanced Materials and Mechanics · Plant Reproductive Biology

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Chemistry Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon 34141 Republic of Korea

Department of Physics The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Water Bay, Kowloon Hong Kong SAR 999077 China

Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces Department of Materials ETH Zürich Vladimir‐Prelog‐Weg 5 Zürich 8093 Switzerland

GIST InnoCORE AI‐Nano Convergence Initiative for Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Diseases Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology Gwangju 61005 Republic of Korea

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