Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 51: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter - Part III (joint session DY/ CPP / BP)

DY 51.5: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2015, 16:15–16:30, BH-N 334

Density functional theory for elongated polyhedra — •Matthieu Marechal and Klaus Mecke — Friedrich-Alexander-Universit\"at Erlangen-N\"urnberg

Due to recent advances in synthesis of nanoparticles and colloids, many-particle system of polyhedra are readily available for experiments. This has spurred a host of many-particle simulation studies on polyhedra. Recently, the lack of theoretical tools to study these system was amended by proposing a density functional theory (DFT) for polyhedra using the frame work of fundamental measure theory.

In this contribution, the application of DFT to elongated polyhedra will be discussed. Recent advancements in the DFT of long rods allow us to consider nematic and smectic liquid crystals in addition to the isotropic phase. We will consider these phases for triangular prisms that are elongated along their rotational symmetry axes. Colloids with this shape could be synthesized using nanolithography. We calculate the liquid crystal phase diagram and compare our results to Monte Carlo simulations.