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arXiv · cond-mat/0601524

Hard colloidal rods near a soft wall: wetting, drying, and symmetry breaking

K. Shundyak·R. van Roij
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Abstract

Within an Onsager-like density functional theory we explore the thermodynamic and structural properties of an isotropic and nematic fluid of hard needle-like colloids in contact with a hard substrate coated with a soft short-ranged attractive or repulsive layer. As a function of the range and the strength of the soft interactions we find wetting and drying transitions, a pre-drying line, and a symmetry-breaking transition from uniaxial to biaxial in the wetting and drying film.

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K. Shundyak, R. van Roij. 2006-01-23. Hard colloidal rods near a soft wall: wetting, drying, and symmetry breaking. https://doi.org/10.1209/epl%2Fi2006-10062-4

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