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Hu Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Hu Chen.

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Orientational orders in binary mixtures of hard HGO molecules

studied liquid crystal phases of binary mixtures of non-spherical molecules. The components of the mixtures are two kinds of hard Gaussian overlap (HGO) molecules, one kind of molecules with a small molecular-elongation parameter (small HGO molecules) cannot form stable liquid crystal phase in bulk, and other with a large elongation parameter (large HGO molecules) can form liquid crystal phase easily. In the mixtures, like the large HGO molecules, the small HGO molecules can also form an orientation-ordered phase, which is because that the large HGO molecules can form complex confining surfaces to induce the alignment of the small molecules and generate an isotropic-anisotropic phase transition in the whole binary mixtures. We also study the transition on different mixtures composed of small and large HGO molecules with different elongations and different concentrations of the large molecules. The obtained result implies that small anisotropic molecules might show liquid crystal behavior in confinement.

cond-mat.soft↗

Orientational orders of small anisotropic molecules confined in slit pores

We have studied phase behavior of hard gaussian overlap molecules with small anisotropic parameter confined in two plane parallel structureless hard walls. Our investigation based on standard constant-NPT Monte Carlo molecular simulation led us to some interesting findings. For small anisotropic molecules the nematic phase is instable in bulk, while, if the distance between the walls is small enough, an orientation-ordered phase can form. This result indicates that the required molecular elongation forming liquid-crystal phases is smaller in confinement than that in bulk. Considering the value of the elongation of molecules, the computed result inplies that small molecule liquid crystals may exist in confinement.

cond-mat.soft↗

Can Electric Field Induced Energy Gaps In Metallic Carbon Nanotubes?

The low-energy electronic structure of metallic single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) in an external electric field perpendicular to the tube axis is investigated. Based on tight-binding approximation, a field-induced energy gap is found in all (n, n) SWNTs, and the gap shows strong dependence on the electric field and the size of the tubes. We numerically find a universal scaling that the gap is a function of the electric field and the radius of SWNTs, and the results are testified by the second-order perturbation theory in weak field limit. Our calculation shows the field required to induce a 0.1 ${\rm eV}$ gap in metallic SWNTs can be easily reached under the current experimental conditions. It indicates a kind of possibility to apply nanotubes to electric signal-controlled nanoscale switching devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

The structure relaxation of carbon nanotube

A simple macroscopic continuum elasticity theory (CET) is used to calculate the structure relaxation of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT), an analytic formula is obtained. We also expand an atomic scale three-parameter empirical model [ T. Lenosky {\emph et al.} Nature 355, 333(1992)] in order to correctly describe the bond-length change effects. The structure relaxation of SWNT expected by the model is good in agreement with our CET results, and very well consistent with the previous calculation from a first principles local density function approximation. Using the expanded Lenosky model, we calculate the strain energy of bending tube. The obtained results are good in agreement with the previous theoretical expectation. It shows the model may be a good simple replacement of some more sophisticated methods on determining carbon networks deformations.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

The Polarizability and Electric Field-Induced Energy Gaps In Carbon Nanotubes

A simple method to calculate the static electric polarization of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) is obtained within the second-order perturbation approximation. The results are in agreement with the previous calculation within the random-phase approximation. We also find that the low energy electronic band structure of SWNT can be affected by an external electric field perpendicular to the axis of the tube. The field-induced energy gap shows strong dependence on the electric field and the size of the tubes, and a metal-insulator transition is predicted for all $(n, n)$ tubes. Universal scaling is found for the gap as function of the electric field and the radius of SWNTs. The fact that the external field required to induce a 0.1 ${\rm eV}$ gap in SWNTs can be reached under the currently available experimental conditions indicates a possibility of further applying nanotubes to electric signal-controlled nanoscale switching devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗