{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,9]],"date-time":"2026-01-09T21:55:30Z","timestamp":1767995730453,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,5]],"date-time":"2021-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1633392000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010663","name":"European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SCENT-ERC-2014-STG-639123(2015-2022)"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SCENT-ERC-2014-STG-639123(2015-2022)"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UIDP\/04378\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDP\/04378\/2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["UIDB\/04378\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/04378\/2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["LA\/P\/0140\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["LA\/P\/0140\/2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Liquid crystals represent a fascinating intermediate state of matter, with dynamic yet organized molecular features and untapped opportunities in sensing. Several works report the use of liquid crystal droplets formed by microfluidics and stabilized by surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). In this work, we explore, for the first time, the potential of surface-active ionic liquids of the imidazolium family as surfactants to generate in high yield, stable and oriented liquid crystal droplets. Our results show that [C12MIM][Cl], in particular, yields stable, uniform and monodisperse droplets (diameter 74 \u00b1 6 \u00b5m; PDI = 8%) with the liquid crystal in a radial configuration, even when compared with the standard SDS surfactant. These findings reveal an additional application for ionic liquids in the field of soft matter.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules26196044","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,8]],"date-time":"2021-10-08T21:23:55Z","timestamp":1633728235000},"page":"6044","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["Stable and Oriented Liquid Crystal Droplets Stabilized by Imidazolium Ionic Liquids"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Efthymia","family":"Ramou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Guilherme","family":"Rebord\u00e3o","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1851-8110","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Susana I. C. J.","family":"Palma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4586-3024","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana C. A.","family":"Roque","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Associate Laboratory i4HB\u2014Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"UCIBIO\u2014Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"861","DOI":"10.1080\/02678290601171485","article-title":"Liquid crystal droplet production in a microfluidic device","volume":"34","author":"Hamlington","year":"2007","journal-title":"Liq. Cryst."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Gray, G.W., Goodby, J.W., and Fukuda, A. (1997). 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