Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Rodlike molecules form liquid crystalline phases with orientational order and positional disorder. The great majority of materials in which liquid crystalline phases have been observed are comprised of organic molecules or polymers, even though there has been continuing and growing interest in inorganic liquid crystals. Recent advances in the control of the sizes and shapes of inorganic nanocrystals allow for the formation of a broad class of new inorganic liquid crystals. Here we show the formation of liquid crystalline phases of CdSe semiconductor nanorods. These new liquid crystalline phases may have great importance for both application and fundamental study.