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Electrohydrodynamic convection instabilities observed in suspensions of cellulose nanocrystals

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Frka-Petesic, Bruno  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5002-5685
Jean, B 
Heux, L 

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pCellulose nanocrystals are slender, negatively charged nanoparticles that spontaneously form a cholesteric liquid crystal in aqueous suspension above a critical concentration. When they are suspended in apolar solvents such as toluene using surfactants, the application of an AC electric field leads to the reorientation and then distortion of the cholesteric order until the cholesteric structure completely unwinds into a nematic-like order, typically above 0.4–0.6 kV/cm at 1kHz. In this work, we show that at much higher electric fields (jats:inline-formulajats:alternativesjats:tex-math$$\ge$$</jats:tex-math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> mml:mo≥</mml:mo> </mml:math></jats:alternatives></jats:inline-formula> 4.6 kV/cm at 1 kHz) the sample develops a periodic pattern that varies with the field amplitude. We ascribed this pattern to electrohydrodynamic convection instabilities. These instabilities usually present complex regimes varying with the field, the voltage, the frequency and the geometry. However, the typical geometry where these instabilities were most documented across the literature differs from the geometry used in this work. This work concludes with possible future experimental investigations to clarify the exact regime of instability responsible for these observations.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

Cellulose nanocrystal, Colloidal liquid crystal, Cholesteric, Electroconvection

Journal Title

Cellulose

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0969-0239
1572-882X

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (963872)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (101001637)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/W031019/1)
ANR (BIOSELF: ANR-08-NANO-0037), the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action for travel grant (COST-STSM-FP1205-30247), the ERC (CelluNANo: ERC-2020-POC 963872, BiTe: ERC-2020-COG-101001637), the EPSRC (VALUED: EP/W031019/1) and the SKCM2 Hiroshima University WPI.
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