@article{martin_keary_thornton_novotnak_knutson_folmer_2006, title={Metallotropic liquid crystals formed by surfactant templating of molten metal halides}, volume={5}, ISSN={["1476-1122"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-33645640615&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1038/nmat1610}, abstractNote={Liquid crystals consist of anisotropic molecular units, and most are organic molecules. Materials incorporating metals into anisotropic molecules, described as metallomesogens, have been prepared. Anisotropic structures such as one-dimensional chains and two-dimensional layers are frequently observed in solid-state inorganic materials, however, little is understood about structural organization in melts of such materials. Achieving liquid-crystalline behaviour in inorganic fluids should be possible if the anisotropic structure can be retained or designed into the molten phase. We demonstrated the ability to engineer zeolite-type structures into metal halide glasses and liquids. In this work we have engineered lamellar, cubic and hexagonal liquid-crystalline structure in metal-halide melts by controlling the volume fraction and nature of the inorganic block (up to 80 mol%) with respect to alkylammonium surfactants. The high metal content of these liquid-crystalline systems significantly advances the field of metallomesogens, which seeks to combine magnetic, electronic, optical, redox and catalytic properties common to inorganic materials with the fluid properties of liquid crystals.}, number={4}, journal={NATURE MATERIALS}, author={Martin, JD and Keary, CL and Thornton, TA and Novotnak, MP and Knutson, JW and Folmer, JCW}, year={2006}, month={Apr}, pages={271–275} }