Introduction

AbstractAn introduction into liquid crystals is given, including thermotropic as well as lyotropic molecules and phases. Similarities and differences between the two fundamental classes of liquid crystals are pointed out. In particular, the sub-classes of materials forming lyotropic liquid crystals are introduced: amphiphiles, inorganic nanoparticles, 2D materials, biomaterials, and nanorods and nanotubes. Also, chirality is introduced for lyotropics. For a long time, lyotropic liquid crystals have been overshadowed by their thermotropic counterparts, mainly due to the potential for application of the latter in the display industry. This picture has somewhat shifted over the last decade, with numerous novel lyotropic systems having been discovered and formulated. These have opened the door far beyond amphiphilic compounds, lipid membranes and surfactants, which are of course of importance in their own right. It thus is a perfect time to collate all these efforts and recent advances in a book that goes beyond the classic topics of lyotropic systems. The aim of this book is to provide a broad yet detailed view of a field of research in liquid crystals, which has seen much development over the last years and has turned into a prosperous topic, which increasingly has been welcomed by many groups that formerly mainly concentrated on thermotropic materials. The motivation to review the field of lyotropic liquid crystals from amphiphilic to colloidal systems lies in the aim to bridge between the two worlds of lyotropics and thermotropics, which for so long have been treated very much independently. The more so as it increasingly becomes apparent that many of the features observed in standard thermotropic LCs, may also be observed in lyotropic systems and vice versa.