Colloidal crystal formation via polymer–liquid-crystal demixing

Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University 3610 University St., Montreal, QC H3A 2B2, Canada

Corresponding author: susanta.das@staff.mcgill.ca

Received: 24 January 2005
Accepted: 18 April 2005

Abstract

Simulations of the formation and structure of colloidal crystal ordering that emerge from phase-separation–phase-ordering–texture processes driven by thermal quenches of an isotropic phase of polymer–rigid-rod mesogens are presented and characterized using spinodal-decomposition measures and liquid-crystal defect physics. The positional order in the crystalline emulsion emerges from orientation-driven spinodal decomposition, and the polymer droplet lattice is pinned by a random network of disclination lines embedded in the nematic-liquid-crystalline matrix. The nematic texture is controlled by the coupling between diffusion and nematic ordering.