Surface and smectic layering transitions in binary mixtures of parallel hard rods

Details Surface and smectic layering transitions in binary mixtures of parallel hard rods Surface and smectic layering transitions in binary mixtures of parallel hard rods

2010-02-02

arxiv.org/abs/1002.0512v1

Phys. Rev. E 81, 021706 (2010)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review E

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevE.81.021706

The surface phase behavior of binary mixtures of colloidal hard rods in contact with a solid substrate (hard wall) is studied, with special emphasis on the region of the phase diagram that includes the smectic A phase. The colloidal rods are modelled as hard cylinders of the same diameter and different lengths, in the approximation of perfect alignment. A fundamental--measure density functional is used to obtain equilibrium density profiles and thermodynamic properties such as surface tensions and adsorption coefficients. The bulk phase diagram exhibits nematic-smectic and smectic-smectic demixing, with smectic phases having different compositions; in some cases they are microfractionated. The calculated surface phase diagram of the wall-nematic interface shows a very rich phase behavior, including layering transitions and complete wetting at high pressures, whereby an infinitely thick smectic film grows at the wall via an infinite sequence of stepwise first--order layering transitions. For lower pressures complete wetting also obtains, but here the smectic film grows in a continuous fashion. Finally, at very low pressures, the wall-nematic interface exhibits critical adsorption by the smectic phase, due to the second-order character of the bulk nematic-smectic transition.

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