title: Direct observation of Brownian dynamics of hard colloidal nanorods.
abstract: We synthesize monodisperse selenium (Se) colloidal rods, and the suspensions exhibit the smectic phase at a particle volume fraction (phi) of 0.28. Side-by-side rod clustering occurs at phi > 0.04. Cluster-size distributions and persistence times are determined for various phi. In dense suspensions (phi > 0.1), individual rods reveal characteristic fundamental motions, e.g., reptation and synchronized rotation. Mean-square displacements of the rods suggest a cage trapping and escape. Estimated translational and rotational diffusion coefficients show a large difference from predictions by computer simulations.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, AIST Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan.
authors.forename: Hideatsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maeda
mesh_terms: D001718:Birefringence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004058:Diffusion; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008853:Microscopy; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D012643:Selenium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D012643:Selenium