Tetravalent Colloids by Nematic Wetting
arXiv:cond-mat/0407596 · doi:10.1209/epl/i2004-10316-1
Abstract
In an elegant paper, D. Nelson suggested a method to produce tetravalent colloids based on a tetrahedral configuration created on the surface of a spherical particle. It emerges from a two-dimensional nematic liquid crystal placed on a sphere due to the presence of four 1/2 disclinations, i.e., topological defects in the orientational order. In this paper we show that such a tetrahedral configuration also occurs in the wetting layers which form around spheres dispersed in a liquid crystal above the nematic-isotropic phase transition. Nematic wetting therefore offers an alternative route towards tetravalent colloids.
7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Europhys. Lett