Recent results on structural properties and possible bio-sensing applications of planar liquid crystal films are reviewed.

Following the principle of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) pathogen detection method, we demonstrate specific sensing of goat Immunoglobulin G (IgG) by a nematic liquid crystal material. Sensing occurs via the visually-striking realignment of a pre-fabricated liquid crystal film, suspended in grids and coated with biotinylated lipids followed by biotinylated anti-goat IgG. Realignment occurs when the targeted goat IgG is added to the cell, but not when rat or rabbit serum IgG is added to the same surface. In principle, this method can be generalized to provide an inexpensive, fast and sensitive prefabricated sensor for any pathogen

In this review article, we analyze recent progress in the application of liquid crystal-assisted advanced functional materials for sensing biological and chemical analytes. Multiple research groups demonstrate substantial interest in liquid crystal (LC) sensing platforms, generating an increasing number of scientific articles. We review trends in implementing LC sensing techniques and identify common problems related to the stability and reliability of the sensing materials as well as to experimental set-ups. Finally, we suggest possible means of bridging scientific findings to viable and attractive LC sensor platforms.

Nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) of achiral molecules and racemic mixtures of chiral ones form flat films and show uniform textures between circular polarizers when suspended in sub-millimeter size grids and immersed in water. On addition of chiral dopants to the liquid crystal, the films exhibit optical textures with concentric ring patterns and radial variation of the birefringence color. Both are related to a biconvex shape of the chiral liquid crystal film; the rings are due to interference. The curvature radii of the biconvex lens array are in the range of a few millimeters. This curvature leads to a radial variation of the optical axis along the plane of the film. Such a Pancharatnam-type phase lens dominates the imaging and explains the measured focal length of about one millimeter. To our knowledge, these are the first spontaneously formed Pancharatnam devices. The unwinding of the helical structure at the grid walls drives the lens shape. The relation between the lens curvature and material properties such as helical pitch, the twist elastic constant, and the interfacial tensions, is derived. This simple, novel method for spontaneously forming microlens arrays can also be used for various sensors.

Liquid-crystal–based biosensors utilize the high sensitivity of liquid-crystal alignment to the presence of amphiphiles adsorbed to one of the liquid-crystal surfaces from water. They offer inexpensive, easy optical detection of biologically relevant molecules such as lipids, proteins, and cells. Present techniques use linear polarizers to analyze the alignment of the liquid crystal. The resulting images contain information not only about the liquid-crystal tilt with respect to the surface normal, the quantity which is controlled by surface adsorption, but also on the uncontrolled in-plane liquid-crystal alignment, thus making the detection largely qualitative. Here we show that detecting the liquid-crystal alignment between circular polarizers, which are only sensitive to the liquid-crystal tilt with respect to the interface normal, makes possible quantitative detection by measuring the transmitted light intensity with a spectrophotometer. Following a new procedure, not only the concentration dependence of the optical path difference but also the film thickness and the effective birefringence can be determined accurately. We also introduce a new “dynamic” mode of sensing, where (instead of the conventional “steady” mode, which detects the concentration dependence of the steady-state texture) we increase the concentration at a constant rate.

Two-dimensional diffusion of a rhodamine 6G fluorescent tracer molecule at the $n$-decane–water interface was studied with all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. In agreement with experimental data, we find increased mobility of the tracer at the $n$-decane–water interfaces in comparison to its mobility in bulk water. Orientational ordering of water and $n$-decane molecules near the interface is observed, and may change the interfacial viscosity as suggested to explain the experimental data. However, the restricted rotational motion of the rhodamine molecule at the interface suggests that the Saffman-Delbrück model may be a more appropriate approximation of rhodamine diffusion at $n$-decane–water interfaces, and, without any decrease in interfacial viscosity, suggests faster diffusion consistent with both experimental and simulation values.