News

The physical behavior of anisotropic charged colloidal particles in nematic solvents is determined by their dielectric anisotropy. Together with the experimental group of Professor Ivan Smalyukh at University of Colorado Boulder the authors Jeffrey C. Everts and Miha Ravnik from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at University of Ljubljana and the Department F5 of Jozef Stefan Institute demonstrated anisotropic electrostatic screening for charged colloidal particles in nematic electrolytes. The electrostatic potential and pair interactions decay with an anisotropic Debye screening length, contrasting constant screening length for isotropic electrolytes. Charged dumpling-shaped near-spherical colloidal particles in nematic media are used as model systems, demonstrating competing anisotropic elastic and electrostatic effective pair interactions for colloidal surface charges tunable from neutral to high, yielding particle-separated metastable states (Science Advances 2021, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd0662). The work was published in Science Advances and contributes to the understanding of electrostatic screening in nematic media.

Dr. Martin Klanjšek from the Condensed Matter Physics Department published a News & Views article entitled Singlets singled out in Nature Physics upon invitation by the editor. In this article, the author presents his view of the achievements of the article Emergence of spin singlets with inhomogeneous gaps in the kagome lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnets Zn-barlowite and herbertsmithite published in the same journal by the research group of prof. Imai from the McMaster University in Canada. They report on the gradual formation of spin singlets in two quantum magnets with kagome lattice, which is an important step in the resolution of the ground state of this archetypal magnet. News & Views section contains short articles summarizing recently published high-impact research in a way accessible to the broader public. The authors of the News & Views articles are selected by the editor among those reviewers of the corresponding research articles that left the best impression during the review process.

1. Neelakandan Marath Santhosh, Kush K. Updhyay, Petra Stražar, Gregor Filipič, Janez Zavašnik, André Mão de Ferro, Rui Pedro Silva, Elena Tatarova, Maria de Fátima Montemor, Uroš Cvelbar, “Advanced carbonnickel sulfide hybrid nanostructures: extending the limits of batterytype electrodes for redox-based supercapacitor applications”, ACS applied materials & interfaces, 2021, 13, 17, 20559–20572.

2. Juan Casanova-Chafer, Polona Umek, Selene Acosta, Carla Bittencourt, Eduard Llobet, “Graphene loading with polypyrrole nanoparticles for trace-level detection of ammonia at room temperature”, ACS applied materials & interfaces, 2021, 13, 34, 40909–40921.

3. Petra Draksler, Urška Mikac, Peter Laggner, Amrit Paudel, Biljana Janković, “Polyethylene oxide matrix tablet swelling evolution: the impact of molecular weight and tablet composition”, Acta pharmaceutica, 2021, 71, 2, 215-243.

4. Andraž Bradeško, Lovro Fulanović, Marko Vrabelj, Aleksander Matavž, Mojca Otoničar, Jurij Koruza, Barbara Malič, Tadej Rojac, “Multifunctional cantilevers as working elements in solid-state cooling devices”, Actuators, 2021, 10, 3, 58.

5. Gregor Pirnat, Matjaž Humar, “Whispering gallery-mode microdroplet tensiometry”, Advanced photonics research, 2021, 2, 11, 2100129.

6. Lukas Link, Manisha Pathak, Franziska Jach, Primož Koželj, Alim H. Ormeci, Peter Höhn, Rainer Niewa, “The reduced nitridogermanates(III) Ca6[Ge2N6] and Sr6[Ge2N6] with Ge-Ge bonds”, Angewandte Chemie, 2021, 60, 14, 7691-7696.

7. Franziska Jach et al. (12 authors), “Tricyanidoferrates(-IV) and ruthenates(-IV) with non-innocent cyanido ligands”, Angewandte Chemie, 2021, 60, 29, 15879-15885.… Read the rest “Original articles – 2021”

1. Kaushik Pal, Alaa AA Aljabali, Samo Kralj, Sabu Thomas, Fernando Gomes de Souza, “Graphene-assembly liquid crystalline and nanopolymer hybridization: a review on switchable device implementations”, Chemosphere, 2021, 263, 128104.

2. Kaushik Pal, Si Asiya, Gharieb S. El-Sayyad, M. Abd Elkodous, Rajesh Kumar, Ahmed I. El-Batal, Samo Kralj, Sabu Thomas, “Cutting edge development on graphene derivatives modified by liquid crystal and CdS/TiO2 hybrid matrix: optoelectronics and biotechnological aspects”, Critical reviews in solid state and materials sciences, 2021, 46, 5, 385- 449.

3. Simon Čopar, Miha Ravnik, Slobodan Žumer, “Introduction to colloidal and microfluidic nematic microstructures”, Crystals, 2021, 11, 956.

4. George Cordoyiannis, Marta Lavrič, Vasileios Tzitzios, Maja Trček, Ioannis Lelidis, George Nounesis, Samo Kralj, Jan Thoen, Zdravko Kutnjak, “Experimental advances in nanoparticle-driven stabilization of liquid-crystalline blue phases and twist-grain boundary phases”, Nanomaterials, 2021, 11, 11, 2968.

5. Xian Chen, Irene Fonseca, Miha Ravnik, Valeriy Slastikov, Claudio Zannoni, Arghir Zarnescu, “Topics in the mathematical design of materials”, Philosophical transactions. Mathematical, physical and engineering sciences, 2021, 379, 20200108.

6. Mitja Kralj, Marko Kralj, Samo Kralj, “Topological defects in nematic liquid crystals: laboratory of fundamental physics”, Physica statussolidi. A, Applications and materials science, 2021, 218, 17, 2000752.

1. Peter Ropač, Urban Mur, Miha Ravnik, “Design of two-dimensional photonic crystals using geometry and self-similarity”, In: Emerging Liquid Crystal Technologies XVI, 6‐12 March 2021, CA, USA, (Proceeding of SPIE 11707), SPIE, 2021, 117070i.

2. Guilhem Poy, Slobodan Žumer, “Chirality-enhanced nonlinear optical response of frustrated liquid crystals”, In: Liquid Crystals XXV, 1‐5 August 2021, San Diego, CA, USA, (Proceedings of SPIE 11807), SPIE, 2021, 1180708.

3. Luka Mesarec, Wojciech Góźdź, Aleš Iglič, Veronika Kralj-Iglič, Epifanio Giovanni Virga, Samo Kralj, “Stability of normal red blood cells explained by membrane’s in-plane ordering”, In: Socratic lectures: 4th international minisymposium, Ljubljana, 11.‐12. December 2020, peer reviewed proceedings, Zdravstvena fakulteta Ljubljana, 2021, 21-27.

4. Samo Kralj, “Tekoči kristali: poligon osnovne fizike”, In: Znanstveno popoldne in 74. občni zbor DMFA Slovenije: 19. november 2021, DMFA – Založništvo, 2021, 9.