Nanoparticles serving as a multifunctional and multiaddressable dopant to modify the properties of liquid crystalline matrices are developed by combining cobalt ferrite nanocrystals with organic ligands featuring a robust photosensitive unit and a source of chirality from the natural pool. These nanoparticles provide a stable nanocomposite when dispersed in achiral liquid crystals, giving rise to chiral supramolecular structures that can respond to UV-light illumination, and, at the same time, the formed nanocomposite possesses strong magnetic response. We report on a nanocomposite that shows three additional functionalities (chirality and responsiveness to UV light and magnetic field) upon the introduction of a single dopant into achiral liquid crystals.

Brain Health Research Institute Kent State University Kent Ohio 44242 0001 United States

Department of Analytical Chemistry University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 5 16628 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 3 16628 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Kent State University Kent Ohio 44242 0001 United States

Department of Condensed Matter Physics Charles University Ke Karlovu 5 121 16 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Organic Chemistry University of Chemistry and Technology Prague Technická 5 16628 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Na Slovance 2 182 21 Prague 8 Czech Republic

Materials Science Graduate Program Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute Kent State University Kent Ohio 44242 0001 United States

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Nickel Ferrite Nanoparticles for In Vivo Multimodal Magnetic Resonance and Magnetic Particle Imaging