Orientational ordering and layering of hard plates in narrow slitlike pores

Mizani, Sakine and Aliabadi, Roohollah and Salehi, Hamdollah and Varga, Szabolcs (2019) Orientational ordering and layering of hard plates in narrow slitlike pores. PHYSICAL REVIEW E - STATISTICAL, NONLINEAR AND SOFT MATTER PHYSICS, 100 (3). 032704. ISSN 1539-3755

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Abstract

We examine the ordering behavior of hard platelike particles in a very narrow, slitlike pore using the Parsons-Lee density functional theory and the restricted orientation approximation. We observe that the plates are orientationally ordered and align perpendicularly (face-on) to the walls at low densities, a first-order layering transition occurs between uniaxial nematic structures having n and n+1 layers at intermediate densities, and even a phase transition between a monolayer with parallel (edge-on) orientational order and n layers with a perpendicular one can be detected at high densities. In addition to this, the edge-on monolayer is usually biaxial nematic, and a uniaxial-biaxial nematic phase transition can be also seen at very high densities.

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