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Stable smectic phase in suspensions of polydisperse colloidal platelets with identical thickness

Dazhi Sun and Hung-Jue Sue

Zhengdong Cheng*

Yuri Martínez-Ratón†

Enrique Velasco

  • Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

  • Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

  • Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos (GISC), Departamento de Matemáticas, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Avenida de la Universidad 30, E-28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain

  • Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada and Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain

  • *cheng@chemail.tamu.edu
  • †yuri@math.uc3m.es
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Phys. Rev. E 80, 041704 – Published 15 October, 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.041704

Abstract

We report the nematic and smectic ordering in an aqueous suspension of monolayer α-Zirconium phosphate platelets possessing a high polydispersity in diameter but uniform thickness. We observe an isotropic-nematic transition as the platelet volume fraction increases, followed by the formation of a smectic, an elusive phase that has been rarely seen in discotic liquid crystals. The smectic phase is characterized by x-ray diffraction high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. The phase equilibria in this highly polydisperse suspension are rationalized in terms of a theoretical approach based on density-functional theory.

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  15. Further theoretical calculations with attractive forces (not shown) indicate that the transition changes to first order when the system is polydisperse (orientational degrees of freedom might have some additional effect on the transition).
  16. Note that the smectic volume fraction ϕSthe and period d/Leff at the spinodal point could both decrease due to additional attractive, short-ranged forces plus long-ranged, repulsive forces; in this case Leff/L would increase and, consequently, ϕS would be lower than our estimate (0.108) using a purely repulsive potential.

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Phys. Rev. E 80, 041704– Published 15 October, 2009
  • Received 22 May 2009

© 2009 American Physical Society

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