Abstract
We examine the ordering of hard rods confined to the surface of elongated nano-particles or capsules using grand canonical computer simulations. The nano-particles consist of a cylindrical section of length L-C and diameter D-C and two hemispherical end-caps of diameter D-C. Due to the orientational symmetry of the nematic phase, the director configuration cannot uniformly cover the surface and we observe four s = +1/2 defects on the surface of the nano-particle. These defects are found to be located, on average, at the ends of the cylindrical section of the nano-particle around the circumference of the hemispherical end-caps. Two defects occur at each end, and these repel such that they are on opposite sides of the nano-particle. However, the locations of the defects at opposite ends of the nano-particle appear to be uncorrelated. This behaviour appears to be independent of the length of the nano-particle for all but the shortest elongations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2059-2063 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Soft Matter |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Keywords
- ELASTIC-CONSTANTS
- LIQUID-CRYSTAL
- COLLOIDS
- SYSTEMS