Isotropic-liquid crystalline phase diagram of a CdSe nanorod solution.

We report the isotropic-liquid crystalline phase diagram of 3.0 nm x 60 nm CdSe nanorods dispersed in anhydrous cyclohexane. The coexistence concentrations of both phases are found to be lower and the biphasic region wider than the results predicted by the hard rod model, indicating that the attractive interaction between the nanorods may be important in the formation of the liquid crystalline phase in this system.