In-situ synthesis of Au nano particles of co-existing morphologies in liquid crystalline matrix

The present study describes the in-situ synthesis of Au nano particles (Au-NP) in the room temperature nematic liquid crystalline (LC) substance MBBA (N-4 methoxybenzylidene 4 butylaniline) without any external reducing or stabilizing agents. UV-Visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy clearly show formation of Au-NP within the LC matrix through the plasmon resonance peak for the NPs and EDAX measurements confirm this formation. Transmission electron Microscopy shows co-existence of spherical and prismatic NPs. FTIR spectroscopy shows a considerable shift in the C=N stretch band pointing to the location of the growth centre of the NPs. Polarization microscopy data indicates a definite phase ordering and texture transformation from Nematic to highly ordered smectic mesophase.