2A08 Depletion-effect-driven formation of nano-segregated smectic phase

Abstract

The numerical experiments and computer simulations predicted the entropy driven assembly of spheres segregated into the interstitial regions between the smectic layers of rods in a rod-sphere mixture due to the depletion effect. In this study, the smectic liquid crystal supramolecular assembly in the mixtures of a sphere-like particles and rod-like polysilanes with narrow molecular weight distributions were investigated by synchrotron radiation small-angle and wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements (SR-SAXS/WAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) observations and found to reproduce the theoretical predictions accurately.