title: Isotropic-nematic phase diagram for interacting rigid rods on two-dimensional lattices.
abstract: The phase behavior of interacting rigid rods of length k (k-mers) on two-dimensional square and triangular lattices has been studied by theoretical calculations in the framework of the lattice-gas model. The process was analyzed by comparing the dependence on coverage of the free energy per site of an isotropic submonolayer of interacting k-mers f(iso)(θ) with that corresponding to a fully aligned (nematic) system f(nem)(θ). The existence of an intersection point between the curves f(iso)(θ) and f(nem)(θ), which is indicative of the occurrence of an isotropic-nematic phase transition in the adlayer, allowed us to obtain the complete (temperature, coverage, k-mer size) phase diagram of the system.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Instituto de Física Aplicada, Universidad Nacional de San Luis-CONICET, Chacabuco 917, D5700BWS San Luis, Argentina.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Longone
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dávila
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ramirez-Pastor
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D044367:Phase Transition