Morphology of spinodal decompositions in liquid crystal-colloid mixtures.
We study the morphology of spinodal decompositions (SDs) in mixtures of a liquid crystal and a colloidal particle by solving time-dependent Landau-Ginzburg equations for a conserved order parameter (concentration) and two nonconserved order parameters (orientation and crystallization). We numerically examine the coupling between concentration, nematic ordering, and crystalline ordering in two dimensional fluid mixtures, coexisting a nematic and a crystalline phase. On increasing the concentration of colloidal particles, we have three different SDs: a nematic order-induced SD, a phase-separation-induced SD (PSD), and a crystalline-order-induced SD (CSD). In NSD, the phase ordering can lead to fibrillar and cellular networks of the minority colloidal-particle-rich phase in early stages. In the PSD, we find a bicontinuous network structure consisting of a nematic phase rich in liquid crystal and a crystalline phase rich in colloidal particles. In the CSD, nematic droplets can be formed in a crystalline matrix. Asymmetric mixtures of a liquid crystal and a colloidal particle lead to rich varieties of morphologies.
Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Computer Science and System Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kawazu 680-4, Iizuka, Fukuoka 820-8502, Japan. matuyama@bio.kyutech.ac.jp
Akihiko
A
Matsuyama
D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007700:Kinetics; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors
D003102:Colloids; D045424:Complex Mixtures