Spatial confinement governs orientational order in patchy particles.

ABSTRACT: Orientational order in condensed matter plays a key role in determining material properties such as ferromagnetism, viscoelasticity or birefringence. We studied purely orientational ordering in closely-packed one-patch colloidal particles confined between flat substrates, where the particles can only rotate and are ordered via the sticky interaction between the patches. For the first time, we experimentally realized a rich variety of mesoscopic patterns through orientational ordering of colloids by controlling patch size and confinement thickness. The combination of experiment and numerical simulation reveals the decisive role of confinement: An ordered state(s) is selected from the (meta)stable options in bulk when it is commensurate with the system geometry and boundary conditions; other

SUBMITTER: Iwashita Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4893746 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature