Tetravalent Colloids by Nematic Wetting

M. Huber; H. Stark

doi:10.1209/epl/i2004-10316-1

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arXiv · cond-mat/0407596

Tetravalent Colloids by Nematic Wetting

M. Huber·H. Stark

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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.

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M. Huber, H. Stark. 2004-07-22. Tetravalent Colloids by Nematic Wetting. https://doi.org/10.1209/epl%2Fi2004-10316-1

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