This paper describes the phase transition behavior of a copolysiloxane (1) bearing a 4-cyanophenyl benzoate core at the terminal of the side chain. While polymer 1 exhibits only a nematic phase in bulk, it easily forms layer structures involving monolayer, trilayer, and complex multilayers at the air-water interface. In the monolayer state the cyano groups are anchored on the water surface and the aromatic moieties involving the copolysiloxane chain are directed towards the air phase. The trilayer has a partially bilayer structure on the top of the monolayer, where the layer structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction measurement of the LB films, giving the layer spacing of 1.47 times of the calculated side chain length. Complex multilayer transitions were also observed by a further compression or changing subphase temperature.

Liquid crystal polysiloxanes with a lateral 4-(4-cyanophenoxycarbonyl)phenyl 4-(2-perfluoroalkylethoxy)-2-propyleneoxybenzoate side group and a 4-decyloxy-2-propyleneoxy-benzoate hydrocarbon analogue were prepared, and the mesomorphic properties were determined by the microscopic observation and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) thermogram, and the layer structure of the smectic A phase was characterized by an X-ray diffraction experiment. The introduction of the perfluoroalkyl chain to the polymer remarkably enhances the smectic properties due to the strong fluorophilic interactions around the perfluoroalkyl chain. The effect of the perfluoroalkyl chain on the monolayer formation was studied at the air–water interface. The surface pressure–area isotherms show that the perfluoroalkyl chain enhances the stability of the monolayer versus surface pressure. In the condensed state the cyano group in the side chain is assumed to be anchored on the water surface and the mean axis of the liquid crystal core is approximately normal to the water surface. The monolayers were easily deposited on a hydrophobic glass slide, giving uniform Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films by the vertical deposition method. The X-ray diffraction results indicate that the perfluorooctyl chain effectively stabilizes the layer structure in the multilayer LB film at room temperature. The side chain monomers also show a similar behavior to the polymers and give uniform LB films on hydrophobic glass slides.

CdS nanoparticles were successfully synthesized through a simple and "green" route using starch as a capping agent. The nanoparticles were characterized by means of AFM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction analysis suggested that the CdS nanoparticles were of the cubic structure. The AFM gave an average particle size of approximately 10nm.

The ZnO ultrathin films were fabricated from annealing the ZnS nanoparticulate films. By the layer by layer self-assembly technique, we constructed the ZnS nanoparticulate films from alternating layers of ZnS nanoparticles and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDDA). The result of the emission spectra indicated that PDDA played a role of passivator. Annealing the ZnS/PDDA films at different temperatures led to the changes in absorption. The SEM images showed that the preannealed film was composed of the uniformly distributing domains, while on the annealed film, there exist some holes formed by the burning of the organic components. The EDS confirmed that ZnS could be converted to ZnO at 500℃

The silica-coated ZnS nanocomposites have been synthesized by a seeded-growth procedure in iso-propanol. The results of XRD, HRTEM and UV absorption show that the ZnS nanoparticles can be incorporated in the silica nanospheres without changing the particle size, and the composites are of multi-core structure. UV absorption and emission spectra have been performed to check the character of the composites, which show that the silica shell not only increases the PL intensity, but also greatly improves the anti-oxidation ability and thermal stability.