Related papers: Surface and smectic layering transitions in binary…
We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study surface-directed spinodal decomposition (SDSD) in unstable binary ($AB$) fluid mixtures at wetting surfaces. The thickness of the wetting layer $R_1$ grows with time $t$ as a power-law…
Surface-induced liquid crystalline phase transitions evoke fundamental interest and can provide deeper insight into the nature of low-dimensional phase transitions. Board-like conjugated polymers are particularly interesting because they…
We report on the dynamics in colloidal suspensions of stiff viral rods, called fd-Y21M. This mutant filamentous virus exhibits a persistence length 3.5 times larger than the wild-type fd-wt. Such a virus system can be used as a model system…
We develop the scaled particle theory to describe the thermodynamic properties and orientation ordering of a binary mixture of hard spheres (HS) and hard spherocylinders (HSC) confined in a disordered porous medium. Using this theory the…
Soft materials with layered structure such as membranes, block copolymers, and smectics exhibit intriguing morphologies with nontrivial curvatures. We report on restructuring the Gaussian and mean curvatures of smectic A films with free…
Previous theoretical studies of calamitic (i.e., rod-like) ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) based on an effective one-species model led to indications of a novel smectic-A phase with a layer spacing being much larger than the length of the…
I use the method of classical density-functional theory in the weighted-density approximation of Tarazona to investigate the phase diagram and the interface structure of a two-dimensional lattice-gas model with three phases -- vapour,…
We use molecular dynamics (MD) to simulate an unstable homogeneous mixture of binary fluids (AB), confined in a slit pore of width $D$. The pore walls are assumed to be flat and structureless, and attract one component of the mixture (A)…
We present a scaled particle density functional study of two-dimensional binary mixtures of hard convex particles with one or both species being ellipses. In particular, we divide our study into two parts. The first part is devoted to the…
We have prepared a homologous series of filamentous viruses with varying contour length using molecular cloning techniques. These viruses are monodisperse enough to form a stable smectic phase. Two systems are studied. The first system…
The effect of short chain grafting on the liquid crystalline (LC) ordering of nano-crystals is investigated using molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse-grained grafted nano-rod model. Monodisperse nano-rods, with aspect ratios typical…
We present numerical studies of complete, first-order and critical wedge filling transitions, at a right angle corner, using a microscopic fundamental measure density functional theory. We consider systems with short-ranged, cut-off…
We have used Monte Carlo NPT computer simulations to study a system of spherical fan shaped particles made of three hard discs fused along a common diameter. The calculated equation of state indicates a strong, entropy driven, first order…
We formulate the scaled particle theory for a general mixture of hard isosceles triangles and calculate different phase diagrams for the one-component fluid and for certain binary mixtures. The fluid of hard triangles exhibits a complex…
Vertically vibrated rod-shaped granular materials confined to quasi-2D containers self organize into distinct patterns. We find, consistent with theory and simulation, a density dependent isotropic-nematic transition. Along the walls, rods…
Recent liquid-crystalline (LC) research is focused on structurally new molecular systems distinct from simple nematic or smectic phases. Sophisticated molecular shape may reveal structural complexity, combining helicity and polarity.…
Understandings heat transfer across a solid/liquid interface is important to develop new pathways to improve thermal management in various energy applications. One of the important questions that arises in this context is the impact of…
Using scaled-particle theory for binary mixtures of two-dimensional hard particles with rotational freedom, we analyse the stability of nematic phases and the demixing phase behaviour of a variety of mixtures, focussing on cases where at…
We present a numerical study of stretching monodomain smectic-A elastomer sheets, computed using the finite element method. When stretched parallel to the layer normal the microscopic layers in smectic elastomers are unstable to a…
We analyze the sedimentation behavior of a polydisperse two-dimensional liquid-crystal fluid using a local density functional theory based on scaled particle theory. Polydispersity is incorporated through variations in the roundness of hard…