Nanocomposites of ferroelectric liquid crystals and FeCo nanoparticles: towards a magnetic response via the application of a small electric field
Author
dc.contributor.author
Romero-Hasler, Patricio N.
Author
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Kurihara, Lynn K.
Author
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Mair, Lamar O.
Author
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Weinberg, Irving N.
Author
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Soto-Bustamante, E. A.
Author
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Martínez-Miranda, L. J.
Admission date
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2019-10-30T15:23:53Z
Available date
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2019-10-30T15:23:53Z
Publication date
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2020
Identifier
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13665855
Identifier
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02678292
Identifier
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10.1080/02678292.2019.1633429
Identifier
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https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/172345
Abstract
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We study a nanocomposite consisting of a ferroelectric liquid crystal and a magnetic nanoparticle in order to explore the possibility of using it as a magnetic resonant imaging contrast agent which will measure a field of 20 V/m. To achieve this we use the ferroic properties exhibited by the nanocomposite. We used the ferroelectric liquid crystal 2-(4-((2-fluorooctyl)oxy)phenyl)-5-(octyloxy)pyrimidine mixed with FeCo nanoparticles nominally 2–3 nm in diameter in concentrations of 0.56, 4.3 and 10.8 wt%. The 10.8 wt% sample was chosen for our study because the nanoparticles acted as a lubricant for the ferroelectric liquid crystal. This concentration yields nanoparticle clusters in about 5 − 10 μm diameter spherulites. An electric field as low as 5V/cm is enough to turn and realign the spherulites where the particles are contained. We estimate the value of the magnetic in a spehrulite and associate it to the number of spherulites aligned as a function of electric field. We find thus that we can achieve low electric fields.