Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 53: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (joint session DY/ CPP / BP)

DY 53.1: Talk

Wednesday, March 14, 2018, 15:30–15:45, BH-N 334

Tactoids and membranes of chiral rod-like particles — •Anja Kuhnhold and Tanja Schilling — Institute of Physics, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany

Suspensions of chiral rod-like particles exhibit a rich phase diagram, including isotropic, chiral nematic (cholesteric) and smectic phases. The cholesteric phase is in particular shown by biological materials, such as fd viruses and cellulose nanocrystals [1].

Besides the bulk phases these rod-like particles assemble to objects of various geometries, e.g. tactoids (spindle-shaped droplets), twisted ribbons or colloidal membranes. Those assemblies are either found in the isotropic background phase of the same constituent particles or in mixtures with depletant particles [2]. Shape and structure of the resulting objects are determined by the interfacial tension with the surrounding phase and the elastic constants and chirality of the mesogens. Understanding the relation between molecular parameters, type (and strength) of interactions and final structures is needed to direct the ‘engineering’ of such systems to certain applications, e.g. sensing, templating.

We use Monte-Carlo simulations to study properties of tactoids and membranes composed of different (model) chiral rod-like particles. As depletants we use Asakura-Oosawa spheres. For the studied system sizes the tactoids are either nematic or smectic and the membranes appear as diverse twisted structures.

[1] J. Lagerwall et al., NPG Asia Materials 6, e80 (2014).

[2] T. Gibaud, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 29, 493003 (2017).