Conductive Properties of Photoluminescent Au/Ps-b-PEO Inorganic/Organic Hybrids Containing Nematic Liquid Crystals

Novel inorganic/organic materials based on poly(styrene-b-ethylene oxide) block copolymers (PS-b-PEO) modified with synthesized Au nanoparticles and low molecular weight liquid crystals, 4′-(hexyloxy)-4-biphenylcarbonitrile (HOBC), have been investigated. The designed materials show a good dispersion of synthesized Au nanoparticles in one block of PS-b-PEO block copolymers. The conductive properties of the designed materials were measured using tunneling atomic force microscopy (TUNA). Au nanoparticles maintain conductive properties in investigated inorganic/organic materials. Simultaneously, the addition of even small amounts of nematic HOBC liquid crystals multiplied the TUNA-current passing throughout the investigated ternary systems. Moreover, the Au-(HOBC/PS-b-PEO) systems pose photoluminescent behavior of the low molecular HOBC liquid crystals allowing the design of nanostructured multiphase materials with the conductive properties of Au nanoparticles multiplied by HOBC and the photoluminescent properties of HOBC, which can lead to the generation of novel materials with interesting specific properties.