Projects per year
Abstract / Description of output
Colloidal particles immersed in liquid crystals frustrate orientational order. This generates defect lines known as disclinations. At the core of these defects, the orientational order drops sharply. We have discovered a class of soft solids, with shear moduli up to 10(4) pascals, containing high concentrations of colloidal particles (volume fraction phi greater than or similar to 20%) directly dispersed into a nematic liquid crystal. Confocal microscopy and computer simulations show that the mechanical strength derives from a percolated network of defect lines entangled with the particles in three dimensions. Such a "self-quenched glass" of defect lines and particles can be considered a self-organized analog of the "vortex glass" state in type II superconductors.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 79-83 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 334 |
Issue number | 6052 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Oct 2011 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- GELS
- PARTICLES
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'A Self-Quenched Defect Glass in a Colloid-Nematic Liquid Crystal Composite'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
-
Edinbugrh Soft Matter and Statistical Physics Programme Grant Renewal
Cates, M., Poon, W., Ackland, G., Clegg, P., Evans, M., MacPhee, C. & Marenduzzo, D.
1/10/07 → 31/03/12
Project: Research