Influence of different amount of functionalized bulky gold nanorods dopant on the electrooptical, dielectric and optical properties of the FLC host

Functionalized gold nanorods decorated simultaneously with siloxane based nematogenic ligands and ionic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were dispersed in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) at 0.25 wt% and 0.50 wt%. Reduction in switching time and spontaneous polarization attributed to the increased localized electric field inside the smectic layers and anti parallel correlation amid dopant and host dipoles respectively. The pronounced reduction in dielectric parameters with doping became manifested by ion capturing at the surface of gold nanorods and supported by decreased conductivity of nanocolloids. Fivefold enhancement in photoluminescence intensity was explained by considering the surface plasmon’s effect.