Liquid crystal phase transitions in suspensions of polydisperse plate-like particles

被引:378
作者
van der Kooij, FM [1 ]
Kassapidou, K [1 ]
Lekkerkerker, HNW [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Utrecht, Debye Inst, Vant Hoff Lab Phys & Colloid Chem, NL-3584 CH Utrecht, Netherlands
关键词
D O I
10.1038/35022535
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Colloidal suspensions that form periodic self-assembling structures on sub-micrometre scales are of potential technological interest; for example, three-dimensional arrangements of spheres in colloidal crystals(1) might serve as photonic materials(2), intended to manipulate light. Colloidal particles with non-spherical shapes (such as rods and plates) are of particular interest because of their ability to form liquid crystals. Nematic liquid crystals possess orientational order; smectic and columnar liquid crystals additionally exhibit positional order (in one or two dimensions respectively). However, such positional ordering(3,4) may be inhibited in polydisperse colloidal suspensions. Here we describe a suspension of plate-like colloids that shows isotropic, nematic and columnar phases on increasing the particle concentration. We find that the columnar two-dimensional crystal persists for a polydispersity of up to 25%, with a cross-over to smectic-like ordering at very high particle concentrations. Our results imply that liquid crystalline order in synthetic mesoscopic materials may be easier to achieve than previously thought.
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页码:868 / 871
页数:5
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