Phase behavior of bent-core molecules

Lansac, Yves ; Maiti, Prabal K. ; Clark, Noel A. ; Glaser, Matthew A. (2003) Phase behavior of bent-core molecules Physical Review E, 67 (1). Article ID 011703. ISSN 1063-651X

Full text not available from this repository.

Official URL: https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/Phys...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.67.011703

Abstract

Recently, a new class of smectic liquid crystal phases characterized by the spontaneous formation of macroscopic chiral domains from achiral bent-core molecules has been discovered. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of a minimal hard spherocylinder dimer model to investigate the role of excluded volume interactions in determining the phase behavior of bent-core materials and to probe the molecular origins of polar and chiral symmetry breaking. We present the phase diagram of hard spherocylinder dimers of length-diameter ratio of 5 as a function of pressure or density and dimer opening angle ψ. With decreasing ψ, a transition from a nonpolar to a polar smectic A phase is observed near ψ=167°, and the nematic phase becomes thermodynamically unstable for ψ<135°. Free energy calculations indicate that the antipolar smectic A (SmAPA) phase is more stable than the polar smectic A phase (SmAPF). No chiral smectic or biaxial nematic phases were found.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Physical Society.
ID Code:113261
Deposited On:24 May 2018 08:08
Last Modified:24 May 2018 08:08

Repository Staff Only: item control page