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Main Authors: and, Alejandro Cuetos, Martínez-Haya, Bruno, Romero-Enrique, José Manuel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21003
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author and, Alejandro Cuetos
Martínez-Haya, Bruno
Romero-Enrique, José Manuel
author_facet and, Alejandro Cuetos
Martínez-Haya, Bruno
Romero-Enrique, José Manuel
contents Discotic colloids give rise to a paradigmatic family of liquid crystals with sound applications in Materials Science. In this paper, Monte Carlo simulations are employed to characterize the low-temperature liquid crystal phase diagram and the vapour-liquid coexistence of discotic colloids interacting via a Kihara potential. Discoidal particles with thickness-diameter aspect ratios $L^*\equiv L/D$=\,0.5, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1 are considered. For the less anisotropic particles ($L^*$$\ge$0.2), coexistence of a vapour phase with the isotropic fluid and with the columnar liquid crystal phase is observed. As the particle anisotropy increases, the vapour-liquid coexistence shifts to lower temperatures and its density range diminishes, eventually merging with coexistences involving the liquid crystal phases. The $L^*=$\,0.1 fluid displays a rich sequence of mesophases, including a nematic phase and a novel lamellar phase in which particles arrange in layers perpendicular to the nematic director.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21003
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Vapour-Liquid equilibrium and low-temperature liquid-crystal phase diagram of discotic colloids
and, Alejandro Cuetos
Martínez-Haya, Bruno
Romero-Enrique, José Manuel
Soft Condensed Matter
Discotic colloids give rise to a paradigmatic family of liquid crystals with sound applications in Materials Science. In this paper, Monte Carlo simulations are employed to characterize the low-temperature liquid crystal phase diagram and the vapour-liquid coexistence of discotic colloids interacting via a Kihara potential. Discoidal particles with thickness-diameter aspect ratios $L^*\equiv L/D$=\,0.5, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1 are considered. For the less anisotropic particles ($L^*$$\ge$0.2), coexistence of a vapour phase with the isotropic fluid and with the columnar liquid crystal phase is observed. As the particle anisotropy increases, the vapour-liquid coexistence shifts to lower temperatures and its density range diminishes, eventually merging with coexistences involving the liquid crystal phases. The $L^*=$\,0.1 fluid displays a rich sequence of mesophases, including a nematic phase and a novel lamellar phase in which particles arrange in layers perpendicular to the nematic director.
title Vapour-Liquid equilibrium and low-temperature liquid-crystal phase diagram of discotic colloids
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21003