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CATEGORIES:Lectures & Speakers
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Xiao Li\, Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engi
 neering Department at University of North Texas will give a seminar titled 
 "Liquid Crystals Self-Assembly and Topological Defects for Functional Mater
 ial Design" to the interested faculty and students at Discovery Park.\n\n \
 n\nAbstract\n\nChiral nematic or cholesteric phases in liquid crystals (LCs
 ) exhibit asymmetrical packing of molecules\, resulting in a finite twist a
 ngle between adjacent molecules\, and long-range chiral ordering similar to
  helical superstructures in DNA. The increase in chirality leads to the for
 mation of three-dimensional (3D) cubic symmetry known as blue phases (BPs)1
 \,2\, consisting of double twisted cylinders (DTCs). The chiral properties 
 of LCs3\,4 (from nano to micrometers) are widely used in display technologi
 es\, electro-optics\, and sensors. However\, exploiting the full potential 
 of such beneficial chiral structures to adapt to diverse engineering condit
 ions\, e.g.\, temperature\, stress\, and chemical environments\, needs to o
 vercome the inherently weak mechanistic nature of LCs. In this seminar\, I 
 will present directed self-assembled hierarchical helix structure on chemic
 al patterned surface. By increasing chirality and confining on an alternate
  patterned substrate of homeotropic and planar anchoring stripes\, the chol
 esteric phase generates hierarchical helix structure\, which is in pairs of
  left-handed and right-handed twisted band as a rope like structure. The mo
 rphology exhibits change in colors by temperature due to the slight change 
 in helical pitch. It mimics natural Bouligand structures\, with long-range 
 order helical hierarchies to exhibit excellent mechanical properties includ
 ing fracture resistance\, crack orientation insensitivity\, and damage resi
 stance. To facilitate the soft materials to withstand substantial mechanica
 l deformation\, sequential infiltration synthesis5 based on atomic layer de
 position tool is applied to liquid crystal formed structural template. The 
 resulting hybrid or fully inorganic framework are expected to realize many 
 potential applications beyond scope of traditional soft material. Furthermo
 re\, by combining liquid crystals and elastomeric polymers\, liquid crystal
  elastomers (LCEs)6 are created to include both inherit the elastic\, defor
 mable nature of polymers and the directional\, responsive behavior of liqui
 d crystals. The incorporation of homopolymers into LCEs facilitated porous 
 structure in LCEs\, which exhibit reduced density\, improved processability
 \, and increased surface area for interaction with external stimuli\, there
 by enhancing their actuation performance. Based on different LC phases\, in
 cluding nematic\, chiral nematic\, and blue phase\, various new structures 
 across multi length scale are created for optical devices\, sensors\, and m
 icroactuator designs.\n\n \n\nBio\n\nXiao Li is an Assistant Professor in M
 aterials Science and Engineering Department at University of North Texas. P
 rior to joining UNT in August 2019\, She received her Ph.D. in Polymer Chem
 istry and Physics from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry\, Chinese A
 cademy of Sciences. She did postdoctoral research in Chemical & Biological 
 Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison (2012-2013)\, and Pritzker S
 chool of Molecular Engineering at University of Chicago (2013-2015). She wa
 s also a research scientist at University of Chicago (2015-2019)\, and a vi
 siting associate at Argonne National Laboratory (2015-2019). Her research i
 s based on soft materials\, including polymers\, liquid crystals\, elastome
 rs and colloidal particle\, and aims to develop a wide range of application
 s for sensors\, optoelectronics\, optical coatings\, micro-actuators\, etc.
  Her research focuses on understanding the fundamental thermodynamics and h
 ydrodynamics of organic/inorganic species within multidimensional soft matt
 er templates\, to reveal the underlying structure-property relationships. D
 r. Li is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award (2024)\, and received funding 
 supports from Army Research Office and ACS Petroleum Reasech Fund.
DTEND:20250905T170000Z
DTSTAMP:20260413T205331Z
DTSTART:20250905T160000Z
GEO:33.253134;-97.148579
LOCATION:Discovery Park Building\, K150
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Engineering Seminar: Liquid Crystals Self-Assembly and Topological 
 Defects for Functional Material Design
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_50523769271409
URL:https://calendar.unt.edu/event/es-202509051100
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