Stable smectic phase in suspensions of polydisperse colloidal platelets with identical thickness

Abstract

We report the nematic and smectic ordering in a new aqueous suspension of monolayer $\alpha$-Zirconium phosphate platelets possessing a high polydispersity in diameter but uniform thickness. We observe an isotropic--nematic transition as the platelet volume fraction increases, followed by the formation of a smectic, an elusive phase that has been rarely seen in discotic liquid crystals. The smectic phase is characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and optical microscopy. The phase equilibria in this highly polydisperse suspension is rationalized in terms of a theoretical approach based on density--functional theory.

6 pages,7 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. E

References in corpus (3)

• Surface freezing and a two-step pathway of the isotropic-smectic phase transition in colloidal rods
• A fundamental-measure density functional for mixtures of parallel hard cylinders
• Phase behavior of parallel hard cylinders

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• Effect of polydispersity, bimodality and aspect ratio on the phase behavior of colloidal platelet suspensions
• Role of length-polydispersity on the phase behavior of freely-rotating hard-rectangle fluid
• Effect of polydispersity and soft interactions on the nematic vs. smectic phase stability in platelet suspensions
• Interplay between columnar and smectic stability in suspensions of polydisperse colloidal platelets
• Orientational ordering in a fluid of hard kites: A density-functional-theory study
• Sedimentation path theory for mass-polydisperse colloidal systems