Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases
Alignment of anisometric particles into liquid crystals (LCs) often results from an entropic competition between their rotational and translational degrees of freedom at dense packings. Here we show that by selectively functionalizing the heads of colloidal rods with magnetic nanoparticles this tend...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2018
|
| _version_ | 1826300079267381248 |
|---|---|
| author | Gao, Y Romano, F Dullens, R Doye, J Aarts, D |
| author_facet | Gao, Y Romano, F Dullens, R Doye, J Aarts, D |
| author_sort | Gao, Y |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Alignment of anisometric particles into liquid crystals (LCs) often results from an entropic competition between their rotational and translational degrees of freedom at dense packings. Here we show that by selectively functionalizing the heads of colloidal rods with magnetic nanoparticles this tendency can be broken to direct the particles into novel, low-density LC phases. Under an external magnetic field, the magnetic heads line up in columns whereas the nonmagnetic tails point out randomly in a plane perpendicular to the columns, forming bottle-brush-like objects; laterally, the bottle brushes are entropically stabilized against coalescence. Experiments and simulations show that upon increasing the particle density the system goes from a dilute gas to a dense two-dimensional liquid of bottle brushes with a density well below the zero-field nematic phase. Our findings offer a strategy for self-assembly into three-dimensional open phases that may find applications in switchable photonics, filtration, and light-weight materials. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:11:41Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:dbc6168b-9aa5-436d-8b84-128bb49ca6db |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T05:11:41Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:dbc6168b-9aa5-436d-8b84-128bb49ca6db2022-03-27T09:13:02ZDirected self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phasesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:dbc6168b-9aa5-436d-8b84-128bb49ca6dbSymplectic Elements at OxfordAmerican Physical Society2018Gao, YRomano, FDullens, RDoye, JAarts, DAlignment of anisometric particles into liquid crystals (LCs) often results from an entropic competition between their rotational and translational degrees of freedom at dense packings. Here we show that by selectively functionalizing the heads of colloidal rods with magnetic nanoparticles this tendency can be broken to direct the particles into novel, low-density LC phases. Under an external magnetic field, the magnetic heads line up in columns whereas the nonmagnetic tails point out randomly in a plane perpendicular to the columns, forming bottle-brush-like objects; laterally, the bottle brushes are entropically stabilized against coalescence. Experiments and simulations show that upon increasing the particle density the system goes from a dilute gas to a dense two-dimensional liquid of bottle brushes with a density well below the zero-field nematic phase. Our findings offer a strategy for self-assembly into three-dimensional open phases that may find applications in switchable photonics, filtration, and light-weight materials. |
| spellingShingle | Gao, Y Romano, F Dullens, R Doye, J Aarts, D Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title | Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title_full | Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title_fullStr | Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title_short | Directed self-assembly into low-density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| title_sort | directed self assembly into low density colloidal liquid crystal phases |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gaoy directedselfassemblyintolowdensitycolloidalliquidcrystalphases AT romanof directedselfassemblyintolowdensitycolloidalliquidcrystalphases AT dullensr directedselfassemblyintolowdensitycolloidalliquidcrystalphases AT doyej directedselfassemblyintolowdensitycolloidalliquidcrystalphases AT aartsd directedselfassemblyintolowdensitycolloidalliquidcrystalphases |