New Developments in Liquid Crystals Research (Chemistry Research and Applications) - Hardcover

Liquid crystals (LCs) were discovered over a century ago, but their profound impact was in the past four decades through their successful implementation into electronic devices that we are using every day. The research on liquid crystals actively continues in the 21st century and offers unlimited potential in various display or non-display applications. This book covers novel topics related to LCs and is intended for a wide range of researchers in both, academia and industry, from beginners to advanced level professionals in many scientific areas, viz. materials science and engineering, chemistry, physics, optics, photonics, nanotechnology, electrical engineering, and so on. The book contains topics on nematic and cholesteric LCs, in the form of films or particles, as well as modified LC behaviour with variety of dopants, micron and nano-sized particles, microencapsulation of LC particles and modelling of their behaviour under an externally applied field. Topics related to the effect on nanomaterials on LC behaviour, as well as structural and magnetic properties of different types of iron-containing liquid crystals (metallo-mesogens) are covered, as well. Finally, an overview of different alignment technologies for nematic liquid crystals such as mechanical rubbing of polymer films, obliquely-deposited inorganic films, photo-irradiated, IB-bombarded and patterned surfaces, are briefly reviewed along with several novel alignment concepts. The state of the art in respective fields related to LCs in each chapter is given by leading experts.

Anka Trajkovska Petkoska, PhD, graduated at Chemical Engineering Department, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (USA) in 2007. Her work was dedicated on polymer cholesteric liquid crystalline materials made into particulate forms and their use for particle display technologies. During her PhD work she was granted with two US Patents related to: i) polymer cholesteric liquid crystals shaped in tailored micro-particles by use of soft lithography technique, and ii) composites based on polymer cholesteric liquid crystals and different types of conductive and non-conductive dopants with micro- and nano-structures intended for electro-optical applications. Dr. Trajkovska Petkoska obtained her MSc at Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University St. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, R. Macedonia where she got her BSc, as well. Her work was on polymers, polymer blends and composites. Nowadays, Dr. Trajkovska Petkoska is working in materials science, particularly in novel advanced materials based on polymers for a variety of applications, surface engineering of polymers, nanocomposites and thin film coatings. She participates in several EU funded projects, Eureka project and national scientific works.