3C18 Phase Separations in Suspensions of Rods between Parallel Walls

Abstract

A simple model of depletion is introduced to describe phase separations in a suspension of rodlike colloids (rods) confined in two flat walls. Based on the Onsager theory for hard rods, we take into account concentration depletion of the rods near the walls. We find that the nematic-isotropic phase separation disappears below a critical thickness of the cell, which is about 10 times the length of a rod.