Title: Organizing metal atoms and nanoclusters in LC media for novel applications

Abstract

Recently we have studied various liquid crystal (LC) molecules by doping them with metal atoms and their nano-clusters. We have investigated different properties such as polarizability, entropy, dipole moment, thermal and electrical energy, specific heat capacity, bandgap etc. as well as the effect of oping on these properties The variations in properties were verified by quantifying physical observables using IR, UV and NMR spectra of these compounds. This has been a least explored area. The chemical reactivities and the stabilities of the LC molecules were first observed using DFT calculations. DFT calculations with B3LYP/6-311G (d, p) and LanL2DZ basis sets were used first to optimize their structures and there their properties were sampled. The observations were focused on formation of nanodots by nucleation process at the chemically active sites of the LC molecules. We further verified the liquid crystalline phase after binding metal atoms and nanodots at room temperature via XRD spectra obtained using VESTA Software. We have uniquely defined and used a new method to obtain band-gaps in these LCs using UV-vis spectra by drawing three-tangent-lines. Our observations show very good agreement with band-gap values obtained from HOMO-LUMO concept. We further extend our work with gold and platinum dots by tailoring alkyl groups at different lengths and try to find alkyl specific variations. Remarkable thing is that gold and platinum nanodots and their complexes have been found useful in cancer treatment. Being a relatively more volatile candidate than the dots alone, LCs may offer some relief to the patients under treatment because of its biocompatible nature.

Biography

Satya Pal Singh is working as Assistant Professor at Department of Physics and Material Science since 2009. Before joining the institution, he has worked as Research Scientist at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India for nearly two years. He has availed Summer Research Fellow (SRF) jointly given by Indian Academy of Science, Indian National Science Academy & National Academy of Science in the year 2012. He has supervised 01 postdoc and currently guiding 02 Ph.D scholars.