Oct 20 2010
The devices developed in this manner consist of economical biosensors which can be deployed for evaluating the quality of drinking water. This technique can also be molded to store light energy with enhanced effectiveness in the coming years.
Stephen Evans, Researcher and Professor at University of Leeds stated that these DLC particles have a nature of heaping up on top of one another and the issue in utilizing these molecules for further applications arises in regulating the .alignment of these structures in respect to the surface on which they lie..
Discotic liquid crystal molecules
Evans remarked that previously, to configure the DLCs, researchers generated microgrooves by simply wiping their aligning surface with a cloth which can be done only with macroscopic areas but for the recently developed novel devices, precise regulation of the arrangement of liquid crystals have to be carried out.
According to Evans, the researchers have developed a new method of producing nano wires by which they can carefully direct this configuration by using patterned surfaces.
Now, the DLC piles can be heaped on top of each other, which makes nanoscale wire production easier and altering the surface characteristics of the DLCs will facilitate the drifting of alignments for sensor applications. He added that by simply exposing the molecules to light, the drifting of liquid crystals can be clearly observed. Thus this innovation could result in the development of convenient, low-cost biosensors, he added.
The research has been financially supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Source: http://www.leeds.ac.uk