Liquid-crystal mediated nanoparticle interactions and gel formation

Whitmer, Jonathan K.; Joshi, Abhijeet A.; Roberts, Tyler F.; de Pablo, Juan J.

doi:10.1063/1.4802774

Title: Liquid-crystal mediated nanoparticle interactions and gel formation

Journal Article · Fri May 17 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Chemical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4802774· OSTI ID:1603418

Whitmer, Jonathan K. ^[1]; Joshi, Abhijeet A. ^[1]; Roberts, Tyler F. ^[1]; de Pablo, Juan J. ^[2]

Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Colloidal particles embedded within nematic liquid crystals exhibit strong anisotropic interactions arising from preferential orientation of nematogens near the particle surface. Such interactions are conducive to forming branched, gel-like aggregates. Anchoring effects also induce interactions between colloids dispersed in the isotropic liquid phase, through the interactions of the pre-nematic wetting layers. Here we utilize computer simulation using coarse-grained mesogens to perform a molecular-level calculation of the potential of mean force between two embedded nanoparticles as a function of anchoring for a set of solvent conditions straddling the isotropic–nematic transition. Finally, we observe that strong, nontrivial interactions can be induced between particles dispersed in mesogenic solvent, and explore how such interactions might be utilized to induce a gel state in the isotropic and nematic phases.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0004025; DMR-1121288; T32HG002760

OSTI ID:: 1603418

Journal Information:: Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 138, Issue 19; ISSN 0021-9606

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 8 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (73)

Chemoresponsive assemblies of microparticles at liquid crystalline interfaces Koenig, G. M.; Lin, I. -H.; Abbott, N. L. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 107, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0910931107	journal	January 2010
Potential of mean force between a spherical particle suspended in a nematic liquid crystal and a substrate: Sphere size effects Kim, Evelina B.; de Pablo, Juan J. Physical Review E, Vol. 69, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.69.061703	journal	June 2004
Elasticity-Mediated Self-Organization and Colloidal Interactions of Solid Spheres with Tangential Anchoring in a Nematic Liquid Crystal Smalyukh, I. I.; Lavrentovich, O. D.; Kuzmin, A. N. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 95, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.157801	journal	October 2005
Temperature-induced flocculation of colloidal particles immersed into the isotropic phase of a nematic liquid crystal Borštnik, A.; Stark, H.; Žumer, S. Physical Review E, Vol. 61, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.2831	journal	March 2000
Liquid-crystalline physical gels Kato, Takashi; Hirai, Yuki; Nakaso, Suguru Chemical Society Reviews, Vol. 36, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1039/b612546h	journal	January 2007
Nematic-Wetted Colloids in the Isotropic Phase Galatola, P.; Fournier, J. -B. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals Science and Technology. Section A. Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol. 330, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/10587259908025631	journal	August 1999
Exact calculations of the paranematic interaction energy for colloidal dispersions in the isotropic phase of a nematogenic material Fournier, J. -B.; Galatola, P. Physical Review E, Vol. 65, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.032702	journal	March 2002
Shape-Controlled Colloidal Interactions in Nematic Liquid Crystals Lapointe, C. P.; Mason, T. G.; Smalyukh, I. I. Science, Vol. 326, Issue 5956 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1176587	journal	November 2009
Potential of mean force between a spherical particle suspended in a nematic liquid crystal and a substrate Kim, Evelina B.; Faller, Roland; Yan, Qiliang The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1508365	journal	October 2002
Fast Parallel Algorithms for Short-Range Molecular Dynamics Plimpton, Steve Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 117, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1006/jcph.1995.1039	journal	March 1995
Nanoparticles in nematic liquid crystals: Interactions with nanochannels Hung, Francisco R.; Gettelfinger, Brian T.; Koenig, Gary M. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 127, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2770724	journal	September 2007
Characterization of the Reversible Interaction of Pairs of Nanoparticles Dispersed in Nematic Liquid Crystals Koenig, Gary M.; de Pablo, Juan J.; Abbott, Nicholas L. Langmuir, Vol. 25, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/la903464t	journal	December 2009
Geometric view on colloidal interactions above the nematic-isotropic phase transition Stark, Holger Physical Review E, Vol. 66, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.041705	journal	October 2002
Nematic colloids entangled by topological defects Ravnik, Miha; Žumer, Slobodan Soft Matter, Vol. 5, Issue 2, p. 269 https://doi.org/10.1039/b810933h	journal	January 2009
Dynamics of the Gay-Berne fluid de Miguel, Enrique; Rull, Luis F.; Gubbins, Keith E. Physical Review A, Vol. 45, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.45.3813	journal	March 1992
Metadynamics: a method to simulate rare events and reconstruct the free energy in biophysics, chemistry and material science Laio, Alessandro; Gervasio, Francesco L. Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1088/0034-4885/71/12/126601	journal	November 2008
Colloid–liquid-crystal composites: An unusual soft solid Meeker, S. P.; Poon, W. C. K.; Crain, J. Physical Review E, Vol. 61, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.61.R6083	journal	June 2000
Formation of Self-Supporting Reversible Cellular Networks in Suspensions of Colloids and Liquid Crystals Vollmer, Doris; Hinze, Gerald; Ullrich, Beate Langmuir, Vol. 21, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/la047090w	journal	May 2005
Interaction and flocculation of spherical colloids wetted by a surface-induced corona of paranematic order Galatola, Paolo; Fournier, Jean-Baptiste; Stark, Holger Physical Review E, Vol. 67, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.67.031404	journal	March 2003
Viscoelastic rheology of colloid-liquid crystal composites Roth, M.; D’Acunzi, M.; Vollmer, D. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 132, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3358331	journal	March 2010
Formation and evolution of sediment layers in an aggregating colloidal suspension Lee, Myung Han; Furst, Eric M. Physical Review E, Vol. 74, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.74.031401	journal	September 2006
Formation and collapse of gels of sterically stabilized colloidal particles Weeks, James R.; Duijneveldt, Jeroen S. van; Vincent, Brian Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 12, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/12/46/307	journal	October 2000
Modelling complex liquid crystal mixtures: from polymer dispersed mesophase to nematic nanocolloids Soule, Ezequiel R.; Rey, Alejandro D. Molecular Simulation, Vol. 38, Issue 8-9 https://doi.org/10.1080/08927022.2012.669478	journal	July 2012
Interaction of spherical particles dispersed in a liquid crystal above the nematic-isotropic phase transition Borštnik, A.; Stark, H.; Žumer, S. Physical Review E, Vol. 60, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.60.4210	journal	October 1999
Formation of Cellular Solid in Liquid Crystal Colloids Petrov, Peter G.; Terentjev, Eugene M. Langmuir, Vol. 17, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/la0016470	journal	May 2001
Long-range forces and aggregation of colloid particles in a nematic liquid crystal Ruhwandl, R. W.; Terentjev, E. M. Physical Review E, Vol. 55, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.2958	journal	March 1997
On Interaction between Two Bodies Immersed in a Solution of Macromolecules Asakura, Sho; Oosawa, Fumio The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 22, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1740347	journal	July 1954
Interactions of quadrupolar nematic colloids Škarabot, M.; Ravnik, M.; Žumer, S. Physical Review E, Vol. 77, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.77.031705	journal	March 2008
Capillary Condensation of a Nematic Liquid Crystal Observed by Force Spectroscopy Kočevar, K.; Borštnik, A.; Muševič, I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.5914	journal	June 2001
A Gay–Berne potential for dissimilar biaxial particles Berardi, Roberto; Fava, Carlo; Zannoni, Claudio Chemical Physics Letters, Vol. 297, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2614(98)01090-2	journal	November 1998
Glasslike Kinetic Arrest at the Colloidal-Gelation Transition Segrè, P.; Prasad, V.; Schofield, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.6042	journal	June 2001
Physics of colloidal dispersions in nematic liquid crystals Stark, Holger Physics Reports, Vol. 351, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0370-1573(00)00144-7	journal	October 2001
Clusters and gels in systems of sticky particles Sedgwick, H.; Egelhaaf, S. U.; Poon, W. C. K. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 16, Issue 42 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/16/42/009	journal	October 2004
Density of States–Based Molecular Simulations Singh, Sadanand; Chopra, Manan; de Pablo, Juan J. Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-062011-081032	journal	July 2012
Single-Particle Imaging of Macromolecules by Cryo-Electron Microscopy Frank, Joachim Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure, Vol. 31, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.biophys.31.082901.134202	journal	June 2002
Two-Dimensional Nematic Colloidal Crystals Self-Assembled by Topological Defects Musevic, I. Science, Vol. 313, Issue 5789 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1129660	journal	August 2006
Soft Glass Rheology in Liquid Crystalline Gels Formed by a Monodisperse Dipeptide Nair, Geetha G.; Prasad, S. Krishna; Bhargavi, R. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 114, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp9071394	journal	January 2010
Liquid Crystal Mediated Interactions Between Nanoparticles in a Nematic Phase Tomar, V.; Roberts, T. F.; Abbott, N. L. Langmuir, Vol. 28, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/la204119p	journal	March 2012
Phase equilibrium and structure formation in gold nanoparticles—nematic liquid crystal composites: experiments and theory Soulé, Ezequiel R.; Milette, Jonathan; Reven, Linda Soft Matter, Vol. 8, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/c2sm07091j	journal	January 2012
Well-Tempered Metadynamics: A Smoothly Converging and Tunable Free-Energy Method Barducci, Alessandro; Bussi, Giovanni; Parrinello, Michele Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.020603	journal	January 2008
Particle-Stabilized Defect Gel in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Zapotocky, M. Science, Vol. 283, Issue 5399 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.283.5399.209	journal	January 1999
Modification of the overlap potential to mimic a linear site–site potential Gay, J. G.; Berne, B. J. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 74, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.441483	journal	March 1981
Cellular solid behaviour of liquid crystal colloids 2. Mechanical properties Anderson, V. J.; Terentjev, E. M. The European Physical Journal E, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s101890170138	journal	January 2001
Gaussian Model Potentials for Molecular Interactions Berne, Bruce J.; Pechukas, Philip The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 56, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1677837	journal	April 1972
Erratum: “Molecular dynamics simulations studies of nanoparticles in an isotropic liquid crystal matrix: Single particle behavior and pairwise interactions” [J. Chem. Phys. 124, 161101 (2006)] and “Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoparticles in dense isotropic nematogens: The role of matrix-induced long-range repulsive interactions” [J. Chem. Phys. 124, 184701 (2006)] Tian, Pu; Smith, Grant D.; Glaser, Matthew The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 128, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2900648	journal	April 2008
Effects of anchoring strength on the diffusivity of nanoparticles in model liquid-crystalline fluids Moreno-Razo, J. A.; Sambriski, E. J.; Koenig, G. M. Soft Matter, Vol. 7, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1039/c0sm01506g	journal	January 2011
Scaling analysis of sediment equilibrium in aggregated colloidal suspensions Senis, D.; Allain, C. Physical Review E, Vol. 55, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.55.7797	journal	June 1997
Interactions between spherical colloids mediated by a liquid crystal: A molecular simulation and mesoscale study Kim, Evelina B.; Guzmán, Orlando; Grollau, Sylvain The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 121, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1761054	journal	July 2004
Computer simulation studies of anisotropic systems. XXX. The phase behavior and structure of a Gay–Berne mesogen Bates, M. A.; Luckhurst, G. R. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 110, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.478563	journal	April 1999
Extension and generalization of the Gay-Berne potential Cleaver, Douglas J.; Care, Christopher M.; Allen, Michael P. Physical Review E, Vol. 54, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.559	journal	July 1996
Nematic wetting layers in liquid crystal colloids Stark, Holger; Fukuda, Jun-ichi; Yokoyama, Hiroshi Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 16, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/16/19/004	journal	April 2004
Liquid crystal nanodroplets in solution Brown, W. Michael; Petersen, Matt K.; Plimpton, Steven J. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 130, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3058435	journal	January 2009
The effect of spherical additives on a liquid crystal colloid Antypov, Dmytro; Cleaver, Douglas J. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 16, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/16/19/002	journal	April 2004
Anisotropic nanoparticles immersed in a nematic liquid crystal: Defect structures and potentials of mean force Hung, Francisco R.; Guzmán, Orlando; Gettelfinger, Brian T. Physical Review E, Vol. 74, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.74.011711	journal	July 2006
Reconfigurable Knots and Links in Chiral Nematic Colloids Tkalec, U.; Ravnik, M.; Copar, S. Science, Vol. 333, Issue 6038 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1205705	journal	June 2011
Defect Structure around Two Colloids in a Liquid Crystal Guzmán, O.; Kim, E. B.; Grollau, S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 91, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.235507	journal	December 2003
High-Resolution EM of Colloidal Nanocrystal Growth Using Graphene Liquid Cells Yuk, Jong Min; Park, Jungwon; Ercius, Peter Science, Vol. 336, Issue 6077 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1217654	journal	April 2012
Sedimentation of aggregating colloids Whitmer, Jonathan K.; Luijten, Erik The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 134, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3525923	journal	January 2011
A Self-Quenched Defect Glass in a Colloid-Nematic Liquid Crystal Composite Wood, T. A.; Lintuvuori, J. S.; Schofield, A. B. Science, Vol. 334, Issue 6052 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1209997	journal	October 2011
Wetting of a spherical particle by a nematic liquid crystal Fukuda, Jun-ichi; Stark, Holger; Yokoyama, Hiroshi Physical Review E, Vol. 69, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.69.021714	journal	February 2004
Escaping free-energy minima Laio, A.; Parrinello, M. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 99, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.202427399	journal	September 2002
Nematic-Wetted Colloids in the Isotropic Phase: Pairwise Interaction, Biaxiality, and Defects Galatola, P.; Fournier, J. -B. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 86, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3915	journal	April 2001
Phase Behavior of Nanoparticles in a Thermotropic Liquid Crystal Da Cruz, Cristina; Sandre, Olivier; Cabuil, Valérie The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 109, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp0455024	journal	August 2005
Defect structures and three-body potential of the mean force for nanoparticles in a nematic host: Nanoparticles in a Nematic Host Guzmán, O.; Abbott, N. L.; de Pablo, J. J. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol. 43, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/polb.20393	journal	March 2005
The origin of network formation in colloid–liquid crystal composites Vollmer, Doris; Hinze, Gerald; Poon, Wilson C. K. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 16, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/16/15/L04	journal	April 2004
Cellular solid behaviour of liquid crystal colloids 1. Phase separation and morphology Anderson, V. J.; Terentjev, E. M.; Meeker, S. P. The European Physical Journal E, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00013680	journal	January 2001
Molecular dynamics simulation study of spherical nanoparticles in a nematogenic matrix: Anchoring, interactions, and phase behavior Xu, Jianqing; Bedrov, Dmitry; Smith, Grant D. Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.011704	journal	January 2009
Molecular dynamics simulations of nanoparticles in dense isotropic nematogens: The role of matrix-induced long-range repulsive interactions Tian, Pu; Smith, Grant D. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2196038	journal	May 2006
Molecular dynamics simulations studies of nanoparticles in an isotropic liquid crystal matrix: Single particle behavior and pairwise interactions Tian, Pu; Smith, Grant D.; Glaser, Matthew The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2194534	journal	April 2006
Liquid-vapour coexistence of the Gay-Berne fluid by Gibbs-ensemble simulation de Miguel, Enrique; Rull, Luis F.; Chalam, Manoj K. Molecular Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1080/00268979000102451	journal	December 1990
Liquid crystal phase diagram of the Gay-Berne fluid De Miguel, Enrique; Rull, Luis F.; Chalam, Manoj K. Molecular Physics, Vol. 74, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1080/00268979100102321	journal	October 1991
Location of the isotropic-nematic transition in the Gay-Berne model de Miguel, Enrique; Rull, Luis F.; Chalam, Manoj K. Molecular Physics, Vol. 72, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/00268979100100451	journal	February 1991
Polymers at Interfaces and the Interactions in Colloidal Dispersions Vrij, A. Pure and Applied Chemistry, Vol. 48, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1351/pac197648040471	journal	January 1976

Cited By (3)

Electro-optical and dielectric properties of CdSe quantum dots and 6CHBT liquid crystals composites Singh, U. B.; Dhar, R.; Pandey, A. S. AIP Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4901908	journal	November 2014
Colloidal nanoparticles trapped by liquid-crystal defect lines: A lattice Monte Carlo simulation Jose, Regina; Skačej, Gregor; Sastry, V. S. S. Physical Review E, Vol. 90, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.90.032503	journal	September 2014
Non-monotonic response of a sheared magnetic liquid crystal to a continuously increasing external field H. Siboni, Nima; Shrivastav, Gaurav P.; Klapp, Sabine H. L. The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 152, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5126398	journal	January 2020

Similar Records

Liquid-crystal mediated nanoparticle interactions and gel formation

Journal Article · Tue May 21 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Chemical Physics · OSTI ID:1603418

Whitmer, Jonathan K.; Joshi, Abhijeet A.; Roberts, Tyler F.; +1 more

Colloid-in-Liquid Crystal Gels that Respond to Biomolecular Interactions

Journal Article · Tue Apr 02 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Small · OSTI ID:1603418

Agarwal, Ankit; Sidiq, Sumyra; Setia, Shilpa; +4 more

Liquid-crystal-mediated self-assembly at nanodroplet interfaces

Journal Article · Wed May 02 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Nature (London) · OSTI ID:1603418

Moreno-Razo, J. A.; Sambriski, E. J.; Abbott, N. L.; +2 more

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Title: Liquid-crystal mediated nanoparticle interactions and gel formation

Citation Formats

References (73)

Cited By (3)

Similar Records

Related Subjects