High electric conductivity of liquid crystals formed by ordered self-assembly of nonionic surfactant N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)dodecanamide in water.

This work reports the ordered self-assembly of nonconductive small molecules that achieved extra high conductivity, thereby stating an convenient approach for constructing a biofriendly soft material that is suitable to be used as implantable biosensors and electro-stimulated drug delivery systems. The microstructure and the conductive mechanism were investigated in detail by combining experimental methods and molecular simulation. This research demonstrated that self-assembly of amide groups with delocalized electrons into π-stacked arrays exhibited high mobilities for charge carriers. The excellent biocompatibility and processability of soft materials such as liquid crystals ensure that the system has high potential in the advance fields of biosensors and drug delivery devices.