Phase Behaviour of Parallel Hard Rods in Confinement: an Onsager Theory Study

0355047 - ÚCHP 2011 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Malijevský, Alexandr - Varga, S.
Phase Behaviour of Parallel Hard Rods in Confinement: an Onsager Theory Study.
Journal of Physics-Condensed Matter. Roč. 22, č. 17 (2010), , , 175002-1-12. ISSN 0953-8984. E-ISSN 1361-648X
R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA400720710
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40720504
Keywords : spherocylinders * stability * columnar
Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry
Impact factor: 2.332, year: 2010

It is shown that the presence of hard walls inhibits the second order nematic-smectic A phase transition irrespective of the value of the wall-to-wall separation. Instead, due to accommodation problems of the cylinders into the pore, an infinite number of first order layering phase transitions appears. Coexisting curves, corresponding to the equilibrium between two phases having n and n + 1 smectic-like periods, are bounded with lower critical points. The gap between the average densities of the coexisting phases shrinks with increasing pore width, while the properties of the critical points monotonically move towards those of the nematic-smectic A phase transition of the bulk system. The effect of only one hard wall is related to the bulk nematic-smectic A phase transition since a critical wetting transition of the wall induced layering takes place.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0193898