Novel Ordering of Soft Matter Using Chromonic Lyotropic Liquid Crystals

Chromonic lyotropic liquid crystals (CLLCs) are a unique and powerful system for governing self-organization in soft materials due to their temperature- and concentration-dependent ability to form nematics in (bio-compatible) aqueous suspensions. We present preliminary observations on several novel soft matter phases governed by the ordering of CLLCs. We first examine the phase behavior of low-concentration chromonic aggregates in surfactant-based lyotropic lamellar, hexagonal and nematic phases, and observe phase separation and mutual ordering. We also discuss the placement of colloidal particles at the interface of a thermotropic nematic liquid crystal and a chromonic nematic liquid crystal, and present initial results on defect coupling across the interface and colloidal self-organization from elastic interactions. We also present additional preliminary work examining the structure of CLLCs in confinement and their interactions with biologically inspired materials.