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Isotropic-nematic transition of hard rods immersed in random sphere matrices M. Schmidt and M. Dijkstra, J. Chem. Phys. 121, 12067 (2004). Locate in [bare] [illustrated] list. Get [full paper] as pdf. Extract. Using replica density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations we investigate a system of annealed hard spherocylinders adsorbed in a matrix of quenched hard spheres. Theory predicts the isotropic-nematic transition to remain first order upon increasing sphere packing fraction, and to shift towards lower rod densities. This is consistent with our simulation results. [more]  Read the [full paper] as pdf. |
Fluids in random media
The density functional theory for quenched-annealed mixtures [24] relates the quenched components to a random porous medium and the annealed components model to an adsorbate fluid (mixture). See [46] for the explicit relation to the the replica trick. Colloid-polymer mixtures were studied in bulk random matrices [32], exhibiting (gas-liquid) interfaces [41], and wetting properties at porous substrates [56]. Rods were immersed in quenched sphere matrices [54], and spheres were immersed in random fibre networks [39]. Freezing is hindered in the presence of disorder [38]. See [33] for the related non-equilibrium process of random sequential adsorption.Liquid crystals
For hard spherocylinders the bulk phase diagram (Ref.4), topological defects in nematic droplets [12], and the isotropic-nematic transition inside random sphere matrices [54] was considered.[more]