My most of the research works mentioned below has focused on the development of discotic liquid crystalline materials and harnessing their diverse self-assemblies for various applications. To know better about these materials, I recommend consulting a very engaging and easy to read book along with a very informative review listed below.
Book: Chemistry of Discotic Liquid Crystals: From Monomers to Polymers. [Link]
Review: Discotic Liquid Crystals. [Link]
Publications
30. H. Wang, I. Bala, R. A. Wiscons, I. Aprahamian, Color Tuning in Ferroelectric Nematic Liquid Crystals using Triptycene/Hydrazone Chiral Photoswitches. Adv. Mater. 2025, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202509125.
29. I. Bala, J. T. Plank, B. Balamut, D. Henry, A. R. Lippert, I. Aprahamian, Multi-stage and multi-colour liquid crystal reflections using a chiral triptycene photoswitchable dopants. Nat. Chem. 2024, 16, 2084-2090.
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Highlighted in Springer Nature, CNN Brasil, Enerzine, Technology Networks, Mirage News, EurekAlert!, Phys.Org, Optica, Dartmouth, Chemistry News
28. M. Maity,$ I. Bala,$ M. B. Kanakala, S. P. Gupta, C. V. Yelamaggad, S. K. Pal, Tailoring Chiral Discotic Liquid Crystals: Mesophase Engineering through Alternative Approaches and Chain Lengths. Chem. Asian J. 2023, p.e202300936. (VIP & Invited article) ($authors contributed equally)
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27. I. Bala, H. Kaur, M. Maity, R. A. K. Yadav, J. De, S. P. Gupta, J. H. Jou, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, Electroluminescent Aggregation-Induced Emission-Active Discotic Liquid Crystals Based on Alkoxy Cyanostilbene-Functionalized Benzenetricarboxamide with Ambipolar Charge Transport. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 2022, 4, 1163-1174.
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26. I. Bala, J. De, S. P. Gupta, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, Enabling efficient ambipolar charge carrier mobility in a H-bonded heptazine–triphenylene system forming segregated donor–acceptor columnar assemblies. J. Mater. Chem. C 2021, 9, 8552-8561.
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25. I. Bala, J. De, S. P. Gupta, H. Singh, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, High Hole Mobility in Room Temperature Discotic Liquid Crystalline Tetrathienoanthracenes. Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 5629-5632.
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24. I. Bala, R. A. K.Yadav, M. Devi, J. De, N. Singh, K. Kailasam, J. Jayakumar, J. H. Jou, C. H. Cheng, S. K. Pal, High-performing D–π–A–π–D Benzothiadiazole-based Hybrid Local and Charge-transfer Emitters in Solution-processed OLEDs. J. Mater. Chem. C 2020, 8, 17009-17015.
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23. I. Bala, N. Singh, R. A. K. Yadav, J. De, S. P. Gupta, D. P. Singh, D. K. Dubey, J. H. Jou, R. Douali, S. K. Pal, Room Temperature Perylene Based Columnar Liquid Crystals as Solid-state Fluorescent Emitters in Solution-processable Organic Light-Emitting Diodes. J. Mater. Chem. C 2020, 8, 12485-12494.
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22. I. Bala, W. Y. Yang, S. P. Gupta, J. De, R. A. K. Yadav, D. P. Singh, D. K. Dubey, J. H. Jou, R. Douali, S. K. Pal, Room Temperature Discotic Liquid Crystalline Triphenylene-Pentaalkynylbenzene Dyads as An Emitter in Blue OLEDs and Their Charge Transfer Complexes with Ambipolar Charge Transport Behaviour. J. Mater. Chem. C 2019, 7, 5724-5738.
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21. I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, S. Kumar, H. Singh, J. De, N. Sharma, K. Kailasam, S. K. Pal, Hydrogen-Bond Mediated Columnar Liquid Crystalline Assemblies of C3-Symmetric Heptazine Derivatives at Ambient Temperature. Soft Matter 2018, 14, 6342-6352.
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20. I. Bala, L. Ming, R. A. K. Yadav, J. De, D. K. Dubey, S. Kumar, H. Singh, J. H. Jou, K. Kailasam, S. K. Pal, Deep‐Blue OLED Fabrication from Heptazine Columnar Liquid Crystal Based AIE‐Active Sky‐Blue Emitter. ChemistrySelect 2018, 3, 7771-7777.
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19. I. Bala, H. Singh, V. R. Battula, S. P. Gupta, J. De, S. Kumar, K. Kailasam, S. K. Pal, Heptazine: an Electron‐Deficient Fluorescent Core for Discotic Liquid Crystals. Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 14718-14722.
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18. I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, J. De, S. K. Pal, Room‐Temperature Columnar Nematic and Soft Crystalline Columnar Assemblies of a New Series of Perylene‐Centred Disc Tetramers. Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 12767-12778.
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17. P. Kumar, $ I. Bala,$ R. De, S. K. Pal, S. Venkataramani, Light Modulated Reversible “On‐Off” Transformation of Arylazoheteroarene Based Discotics in Nematic Organization. Chem. Eur. J. 2022, e202202876. ($authors contributed equally
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16. S. Devi,$ I. Bala,$ S. P. Gupta, P. Kumar, S. K. Pal, S. Venkataramani, Reversibly Photoswitchable Alkoxy Azobenzenes Connected Benzenetricarboxamide Discotic Liquid Crystals with Perpetual Long Range Columnar Assembly. Org. Biomol. Chem. 2019, 17, 1947-1954. ($authors contributed equally)
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15. I. Bala, J. De, S. K. Pal, Functional Discotic Liquid Crystals Through Molecular Self-Assembly: Toward Efficient Charge Transport Systems. In: Govindaraju, T., Ariga, K. (eds Molecular Architectonics and Nanoarchitectonics. Nanostructure Science and Technology) 2022 Springer, Singapore.
[Link]
Other Co-authored Publications
14. S. Dhingra, I. Bala, J. De, S. P. Gupta, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, An electron-deficient tris (triazole)-based discotic liquid crystal that exhibits fast electron transport. J. Mater. Chem. C 2021, 9, 5628-5632. [Link]
13. J. De, I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, High Hole Mobility and Efficient Ambipolar Charge Transport in Heterocoronene-based Ordered Columnar Discotics. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 18799-18805. [Link]
12. M. Gupta, I. Bala, S. K. Pal, A Room Temperature Discotic Mesogenic Dyad Based-on Triphenylene and Pentaalkynylbenzene. Tetrahedron Lett. 2014, 55, 5836-5840. [Link]
11. J. De, S. P. Gupta, I. Bala, S. Kumar, S. K. Pal, Phase Behavior of a New Class of Anthraquinone-Based Discotic Liquid Crystals. Langmuir 2017, 33, 13849-13860. [Link]
10. R. De, J. De, S. P. Gupta, I. Bala, Ankita, Tarun, U. K. Pandey, S. K. Pal, Oxadiazole-adorned Heterocoronene Discotics as Ambipolar Organic Semiconductors. J. Mater. Chem. C 2023, 11, 980-985. [Link]
9. J. De, I. Sarkar, R. A. K. Yadav, I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, I. Siddiqui, J. H. Jou, S. K. Pal, Luminescent columnar discotics as highly efficient emitters in pure deep-blue OLEDs with an external quantum efficiency of 4.7%. Soft Matter 2022, 18, 922-922. [Link]
8. J. De, W. Y. Yang, I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, R. A. K. Yadav, D. K. Dubey, A. Chowdhury, J. H. Jou, S. K. Pal, Room-Temperature Columnar Liquid Crystals as Efficient Pure Deep-Blue Emitters in Organic Light-Emitting Diodes with an External Quantum Efficiency of 4.0%. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2019, 11, 8291-8300. [Link]
7. V. R. Battula, H. Singh, S. Kumar, I. Bala, S. K. Pal, K. Kailasam, Natural Sunlight Driven Oxidative Homocoupling of Amines by a Truxene-Based Conjugated Microporous Polymer. ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 6751-6759. [Link]
6. H. Singh, V. K. Tomer, N. Jena, I. Bala, N. Sharma, D. Nepak, A. S. De, K. Kailasam, S. K. Pal, A Porous, Crystalline Truxene-based Covalent Organic Framework and its Application in Humidity Sensing. J. Mater. Chem. A 2017, 5, 21820-21827. [Link]
5. J. De, M. M. A. H. R. A. K. Yadav, S. P . Gupta, I. Bala, P. Chawla, K. K. Kesavan, J. H. Jou, S. K. Pal, AIE-active Mechanoluminescent Discotic Liquid Crystals for Applications in OLEDs and Bio-imaging. Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 14279-14282. [Link]
4. J. De, S. P. Gupta, S. S. Swayamprabha, D. K. Dubey, I. Bala, I. Sarkar, G. Dey, J. H. Jou, S. Ghosh, S. K. Pal, Blue Luminescent Organic Light Emitting Diode Devices of a New Class of Star-Shaped Columnar Mesogens Exhibiting π–π Driven Supergelation. J. Phys. Chem. C 2018, 122, 23659-23674. [Link]
3. J. De, M. Devi, A. Shah, S. P. Gupta, I. Bala, D. P. Singh, R. Douali, S. K. Pal, Luminescent Conductive Columnar π-Gelators for Fe (II) Sensing and Bio-Imaging Applications. J. Phys. Chem. B 2020, 124, 10257-10265. [Link]
2. J. De, I. Sarkar, R. A. K. Yadav, I. Bala, S. P. Gupta, I. Siddiqui, J. H. Jou, S. K. Pal, Luminescent columnar discotics as highly efficient emitters in pure deep-blue OLEDs with an external quantum efficiency of 4.7%. Soft Matter 2022, 18, 922-922. [Link]
1. S. Grewal, P. Kumar, S. Roy, I. Bala, C. Sah, S. K. Pal, S. Venkataramani, Deciphering Internal and External π‐Conjugation in C3‐Symmetric Multiple Azobenzene Connected Systems in Self‐Assembly. Chem. Eur. J. 2022, 28, 202104602. [Link]