Dynamical and structural insights into the smectic phase of rod-like particles

Grelet, Éric; Lettinga, M. P.; Bier, Markus; Roij, René van; Schoot, Paul van der

doi:10.1088/0953-8984/20/49/494213

Cited by 47 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Due to the layered structure of the smectic-A phase, particles experience a periodic self-consistent molecular field perpendicular to the layers and therefore they mostly rattle around their position in a layer and occasionally jump from one layer to another. Because the layer-to-layer distance in this phase is about one particle length [33], this rattling and jumping motion presents itself as peaks in the self-part of the Van Hove function similar to those we observe in our simulations. The mechanism of the rattling and jumping motion that also presents itself in our simulations on the hexagonal phase is different from that in the smectic-A phase.…”

Section: Domain Size Effectssupporting

confidence: 84%

“…For the smallest system, peaks appear on the integer values of z/L where L is one particle length. This is similar to what has been observed in smectic-A phases formed by filamentous particles [7,33,37]. Due to the layered structure of the smectic-A phase, particles experience a periodic self-consistent molecular field perpendicular to the layers and therefore they mostly rattle around their position in a layer and occasionally jump from one layer to another.…”

Section: Domain Size Effectssupporting

confidence: 83%

“…It was found, for instance, that the self-diffusivity along the main axis of the particles speeds up in the nematic phase compared to that in the isotropic phase. In the smectic phase, diffusion of particles along the main axis has been found to be a kind of hopping-type diffusion between smectic layers [33][34][35], dictated by the temporary caging of particles by their direct neighbors and by the permanent self-consistent molecular field that they experience due to the presence of all the other particles [36]. Smectic phases of monodisperse silica rods also showed a hopping-type interlayer diffusive motion, albeit that in this case the layer-to-layer diffusion is slower than the in-layer diffusion [7,37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Collective stringlike motion of semiflexible filamentous particles in columnar liquid crystalline phases

Naderi

Schoot

2013

Phys. Rev. E

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We study, by means of Brownian dynamics simulations, heterogeneous dynamics in a dense columnar phase of monodisperse hard filamentous particles, and find that in a background of barely moving particles, some particles occasionally engage in a fast coherent string-type motion similar to what is observed in glassy states of isometric particles. This fast motion is triggered by the exchange of particles between two or more columns at different positions in the columns, which leads to sudden displacement of particles between these positions. The distribution of particle displacements shows a pronounced peak at one particle length. We perform our simulations with particles of different persistence lengths and find that for more flexible particles, the number of jump events increases. As the number of particles in the columns increases with system size for a given linear fraction of particles in the columns, the peak in the distribution becomes wider and, for sufficiently large systems, the peak disappears completely. This is associated with the increase in the magnitude of fluctuations in the motion of particles as the system size increases. Our simulation results explain recent experimental observations on single-particle motion in dense columnar phases in aqueous dispersions of filamentous virus particles.

show abstract

Section: Domain Size Effectssupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Domain Size Effectssupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Collective stringlike motion of semiflexible filamentous particles in columnar liquid crystalline phases

Naderi

Schoot

2013

Phys. Rev. E

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Later, it was shown in a study based on dynamical density functional theory that this hopping-type diffusion is dictated by a temporary caging of particles by their direct neighbors that competes with the permanent self-consistent molecular field induced by all other particles. 30,31 A similar type of inter-layer diffusion was observed in the smectic phases of monodisperse rigid rod-like silica particles and in this case, in contrast to the above mentioned experiments involving semiflexible particles, layer-to-layer diffusion was slower than the in-layer diffusion. 32 This indicates that particle bending flexibility may enhance the inter-layer diffusion and/or it may slow down the in-layer diffusion.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…27,28 The unusual self-diffusion of filamentous particles in the smectic-A phase has been the center of attention in computer simulations, theoretical studies and experiments. [29][30][31][32] Lettinga et al 29,30 studied the self-diffusion of individual particles in a suspension of semi-flexible fd virus at concentrations for which a smectic-A phase is stable. The authors observed a hopping-type diffusion, in which fd particles mostly rattle around their equilibrium positions in a smectic layer and occasionally jump from one layer to another.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of bending flexibility on the phase behavior and dynamics of rods

Naderi

Schoot

2014

The Journal of Chemical Physics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Articles you may be interested inThe phase behavior, structure, and dynamics of rodlike mesogens with various flexibility using dissipative particle dynamics simulation J. Chem. Phys. 133, 144911 (2010) Effect of bending flexibility on the phase behavior and dynamics of rods Saber Naderi 1,2,a) and Paul van der Schoot 1,3 We study by means of molecular and Brownian dynamics simulations the influence of bending flexibility on the phase behavior and dynamics of monodisperse hard filamentous particles with an aspect ratio of 8 and persistence lengths equal to 3 and 11 times the particle length. Although our particles are much shorter, the latter corresponds to the values for wild-type and mutant fd virus particles that have been subject of a recent experimental study, where the diffusion of these particles in the nematic and smectic-A phase was investigated by means of video fluorescence microscopy [E. Pouget, E. Grelet, and M. P. Lettinga, Phys. Rev. E 84, 041704 (2011)]. In agreement with theoretical predictions and simulations, we find that for the more flexible particles (shorter persistence length) the nematic (N) to smectic-A (Sm-A) phase transition shifts to larger values of the particle density. Interestingly, we find that for the more rigid particles (larger persistence length), the smectic layer-tolayer distance decreases monotonically with increasing density, whereas for the more flexible ones, it first increases, reaches a maximum and then decreases. For our more flexible particles, we find a smectic-B phase at sufficiently high densities. Moreover, in line with experimental observations and theoretical predictions, we find heterogeneous dynamics in the Sm-A phase, in which particles hop between the smectic layers. We compare the diffusion of our two types of particle at identical values of smectic order parameter, and find that flexibility does not change the diffusive behavior of particles along the director yet significantly slows down the diffusion perpendicular to it. In our simulations, the ratio of diffusion constants along and perpendicular to the director decreases just beyond the N-Sm-A phase transition for both our stiff and more flexible particles. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

show abstract

Liquid Crystalline Systems from Nature and Interaction of Living Organisms with Liquid Crystals

Kim

et al. 2022

Advanced Materials

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202204275. of biosensors with additional functionalities (e.g., self-regulated drug release) that are not available in previous systems is reviewed. Examples addressed in this review convey the message that the intersection between biomaterials and LCs offers deep insights into fundamental understanding of biomaterials, and provides resources for development of transformative technologies.

show abstract

Dynamical and structural insights into the smectic phase of rod-like particles

Cited by 47 publications

References 42 publications

Collective stringlike motion of semiflexible filamentous particles in columnar liquid crystalline phases

Collective stringlike motion of semiflexible filamentous particles in columnar liquid crystalline phases

Effect of bending flexibility on the phase behavior and dynamics of rods

Liquid Crystalline Systems from Nature and Interaction of Living Organisms with Liquid Crystals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About