Tailoring the Surface of Liquid Crystal Droplets by The Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Surfactants for Sensor Applications

The University Of Central Florida Board Of Trustees, Orlando FL

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal will investigate whether the presence of target bile acids in a solution outside a droplet of liquid crystalline material (5CB) will trigger a radial-to-bipolar transition in the structure of the liquid crystal, which can then be detected simply by polarized light microscopy. If successful, this method of detecting bile acids is much easier than existing technique and might be employed in more remote locations where sophisticated analytical tools are not available.