It is becoming evident that the inclusion of nanometric colloids and nanostructures in liquid mixtures of self-assembling surfactants or polymers strongly affects the phase diagram of the host. Nano-inclusions were found to modify the phase boundaries, shift the onset the liquid-liquid phase transition, the onset of micellization, modify the characteristic spacing and symmetries of liquid-crystalline (LC) phases and more. This behavior is fundamentally different from that of micrometric and large colloidal particles with typical diameters in the range of several hundreds of nanometers.I will describe in detail our observations of such behaviors and discuss the suggestedorigins of the observed behaviors.
rachely@bgu.ac.il
