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Synthesis of nitrogen doped mesoporous graphitic carbon spheres with dispersed metal oxide nanoparticles using a single temperature treatment step serves as one of the big challenges in materials research. To date only a few reports have been published on the soft-templating synthesis of mesoporous graphitic carbons. The preparation of graphitic carbons with dispersed Fe 2 O 3 using a single carbonization step at relatively low temperatures is yet to be explored. The first phase of this work shows the potential of graphitization of polyvinylpyrrolidine (PVP) stabilized cubic Prussian blue nanoparticles (CPB) in phenolic resin spheres to produce graphitic carbon spheres through a facile Stöber-like method. In the second phase, the Pluronic F127 soft template was used along with PVP stabilized Prussian blue nanoparticles (PB) in carbon spheres to generate mesopores and graphitic domains with uniformly dispersed Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles in these spheres. Due to the presence of graphitic layers, doped N species and Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles in the carbon matrix, the yielded carbon spheres feature a high surface area and magnetic properties. Moreover, these graphitic spheres exhibited excellent capacitive behavior with rectangular cyclic voltammetry (CV) profiles and large capacitance up to 247 F g −1 at 1 mV s −1 scan rate in 6 M KOH solution. 

A unique morphology for bent-core liquid crystals forming the B4 phase has been found for a class of tris-biphenyl bent-core liquid crystal molecules with a single chiral side chain in the longer para -side of the molecule. Unlike the parent molecules with two chiral side chains or a chiral side chain in the shorter meta -side, which form helical nano- or microfilament B4 phases, the two derivatives described here form heliconical-layered nanocylinders composed of up to 10 coaxial heliconical layers, which can split or merge, braid, and self-assemble into a variety of modes including feather- or herringbone-type structures, concentric rings, or hollow nest-like superstructures. These multi-level hierarchical self-assembled structures, rivaling muscle fibers, display blue structural color and show immense structural and morphological complexity. 

The effect of the molecular chirality of chiral additives on the nanostructure of the twist-bend nematic (N TB ) liquid crystal phase with ambidextrous chirality and nanoscale pitch due to spontaneous symmetry breaking is studied. It is found that the ambidextrous nanoscale pitch of the N TB phase increases by 50% due to 3% chiral additive, and the chiral transfer among the biphenyl groups disappears in the N TB * phase. Most significantly, a twist-grain boundary (TGB) type phase is found at c > 1.5 wt% chiral additive concentrations below the usual N* phase and above the non-CD active N TB * phase. In such a TGB type phase, the adjacent blocks of pseudo-layers of the nanoscale pitch rotate across the grain boundaries. 

Tissue regeneration requires 3-dimensional (3D) smart materials as scaffolds to promote transport of nutrients. To mimic mechanical properties of extracellular matrices, biocompatible polymers have been widely studied and a diverse range of 3D scaffolds have been produced. We propose the use of responsive polymeric materials to create dynamic substrates for cell culture, which goes beyond designing only a physical static 3D scaffold. Here, we demonstrated that lactone- and lactide-based star block-copolymers (SBCs), where a liquid crystal (LC) moiety has been attached as a side-group, can be crosslinked to obtain Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) with a porous architecture using a salt-leaching method to promote cell infiltration. The obtained SmA LCE-based fully interconnected-porous foams exhibit a Young modulus of 0.23 ± 0.07 MPa and a biodegradability rate of around 20% after 15 weeks both of which are optimized to mimic native environments. We present cell culture results showing growth and proliferation of neurons on the scaffold after four weeks. This research provides a new platform to analyse LCE scaffold–cell interactions where the presence of liquid crystal moieties promotes cell alignment paving the way for a stimulated brain-like tissue.