Directional-dependent pockets drive columnar-columnar coexistence

Álvaro González García (Corresponding author), Remco Tuinier (Corresponding author), Gijsbertus de With, Alejandro Cuetos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The rational design of materials requires a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms driving their self-assembly. This may be particularly challenging in highly dense and shape-asymmetric systems. Here we show how the addition of tiny non-adsorbing spheres (depletants) to a dense system of hard disc-like particles (discotics) leads to coexistence between two distinct, highly dense (liquid)-crystalline columnar phases. This coexistence emerges due to the directional-dependent free-volume pockets for depletants. Theoretical results are confirmed by simulations explicitly accounting for the binary mixture of interest. We define the stability limits of this columnar-columnar coexistence and quantify the directional-dependent depletant partitioning.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6720-6724
Number of pages5
JournalSoft Matter
Volume16
Issue number29
Early online date24 Jun 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Aug 2020

Funding

Ministerio de Ciencia Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones Acronym: MICITT

FundersFunder number
European Regional Development FundPGC2018-097151-B-I00

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Directional-dependent pockets drive columnar-columnar coexistence'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this