We present a study of the effects of nanoconfinement on a system of hard Gaussian overlap particles interacting with planar substrates through the hard-needle-wall potential, extending earlier work by two of us [D. J. Cleaver and P. I. C. Teixeira, Chem. Phys. Lett. 338, 1 (2001)]. Here, we consider the case of hybrid films, where one of the substrates induces strongly homeotropic anchoring, while the other favors either weakly homeotropic or planar anchoring. These systems are investigated using both Monte Carlo simulation and density-functional theory, the latter implemented at the level of Onsager’s second-virial approximation with Parsons-Lee rescaling. The orientational structure is found to change either continuously or discontinuously depending on substrate separation, in agreement with earlier predictions by others. The theory is seen to perform well in spite of its simplicity, predicting the positional and orientational structure seen in simulations even for small particle elongations.
Archive for the ‘Liquid crystals’ category
Simulation and theory of hybrid aligned liquid crystal films
January 4th, 2011Entropy-driven formation of the gyroid cubic phase
January 4th, 2011We show, by computer simulation, that tapered or pear-shaped particles, interacting through purely repulsive interactions, can freely self-assemble to form the three-dimensionally periodic, gyroid cubic phase. The Ia3d gyroid cubic phase is formed by these particles both on compression of an isotropic configuration and on expansion of a smectic A bilayer arrangement. For the latter case, it is possible identify the steps by which the topological transformation from non-intersecting planes to fully interpenetrating, periodic networks takes place.
Computer simulation of bistable switching in a nematic device containing pear-shaped particles.
January 4th, 2011We study the microscopic basis of bistable switching of a confined liquid crystal via Monte Carlo simulations of hard pear-shaped particles. Using both dielectric and dipolar field couplings to this intrinsically flexoelectric fluid, it is shown that pulsed fields of opposing polarity can be used to switch between the vertical and hybrid aligned states. Further, it is shown that the field susceptibility of the surface polarisation, rather than the bulk flexoelectricity, is the main driver of this switching behaviour.
Using particle shape to induce tilted and bistable liquid crystal anchoring
January 4th, 2011F. Barmes1 and D.J. Cleaver2 Physical Review E, 71, 021705 (2005) 1Centre Européen de Calcul Atomique et Moléculaire, 46, Allée d’Italie, 69007 Lyon, France 2Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, S1 1WB, United Kingdom Abstract We use Monte Carlo simulations of hard Gaussian overlap (HGO) particles symmetrically confined in slab geometry to [...]
Computer simulation of a liquid-crystal anchoring transition
January 4th, 2011We present a study of the effects of confinement on a system of hard Gaussian overlap particles interacting with planar substrates through the hard-needle–wall potential. Using geometrical arguments to calculate the molecular volume absorbed at the substrates, we show that both planar and homeotropic arrangements can be obtained using this model. Monte Carlo simulations are then used to perform a systematic study of the model’s behaviour as a function of the system density and the hard-needle–wall interaction parameter. As well as showing the homeotropic to planar anchoring transition, the anchoring phase diagrams computed from these simulations indicate regions of bistability. This bistable behaviour is examined further through the explicit simulation of field-induced two-way switching between the two arrangements.
Symmetric alignment of the nematic matrix between close penetrable colloidal particles
January 4th, 2011A simple model is proposed for the liquid crystal matrix surrounding ‘soft’ colloidal particles whose separation is much smaller than their radii.
Computer simulations of hard pear-shaped particles
December 31st, 2010We report results obtained from Monte Carlo simulations investigating mesophase formation in two model systems of hard pear-shaped particles. The first model considered is a hard variant of the truncated Stoneexpansion model previously shown to form nematic and smectic mesophases when embedded within a 12-6 Gay-Berne-like potential [R. Berardi, M. Ricci, and C. Zannoni, ChemPhysChem 7, 443 ~2001]. When stripped of its attractive interactions, however, this system is found to lose its liquid crystalline phases. For particles of length to breadth ratio k53, glassy behavior is seen at high pressures, whereas for k55 several bilayerlike domains are seen, with high intradomain order but little interdomain orientational correlation. For the second model, which uses a parametric shape parameter based on the generalized Gay-Berne formalism, results are presented for particles with elongation k53, 4, and 5. Here, the systems with k53 and 4 fail to display orientationally ordered phases, but the system with k55 shows isotropic, nematic and, unusual for a hardparticle model, interdigitated smectic A2 phases.