Microphase separation as the cause of structural complexity in 2D liquids

Alexander Z. Patashinski*, Rafal Orlik, Antoni C. Mitus, Mark A. Ratner, Bartosz A. Grzybowski

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Under certain thermodynamic conditions, a two-dimensional liquid becomes a statistically stable mosaic of small differently-ordered clusters. We apply to this mosaic a special coarsening procedure that accounts for short-time average and topologic features of a particle near environments. We then show that the coarsened mosaic consists of two different components separated at the length-scale of few inter-particle distances. Using bond order parameters and bond lengths as instant local characteristics, we show that these components have internal properties of spatially heterogeneous crystalline or amorphous phases, so the coarsened mosaic can be seen as a microphase-separated state. We discuss general conditions favouring stability of the mosaic state, and suggest some systems for searching for this special state of matter.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10042-10047
Number of pages6
JournalSoft Matter
Volume9
Issue number42
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 14 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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