Issue 36, 2016

Effects of confinement on pattern formation in two dimensional systems with competing interactions

Abstract

Template-assisted pattern formation in monolayers of particles with competing short-range attraction and long-range repulsion interactions (SALR) is studied by Monte Carlo simulations in a simple generic model [N. G. Almarza et al., J. Chem. Phys., 2014, 140, 164708]. We focus on densities corresponding to formation of parallel stripes of particles and on monolayers laterally confined between straight parallel walls. We analyze both the morphology of the developed structures and the thermodynamic functions for broad ranges of temperature T and the separation L2 between the walls. At low temperature stripes parallel to the boundaries appear, with some corrugation when the distance between the walls does not match the bulk periodicity of the striped structure. The stripes integrity, however, is rarely broken for any L2. This structural order is lost at T = TK(L2) depending on L2 according to a Kelvin-like equation. Above the Kelvin temperature TK(L2) many topological defects such as breaking or branching of the stripes appear, but a certain anisotropy in the orientation of the stripes persists. Finally, at high temperature and away from the walls, the system behaves as an isotropic fluid of elongated clusters of various lengths and with various numbers of branches. For L2 optimal for the stripe pattern the heat capacity as a function of temperature takes the maximum at T = TK(L2).

Graphical abstract: Effects of confinement on pattern formation in two dimensional systems with competing interactions

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jun 2016
Accepted
04 Aug 2016
First published
04 Aug 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2016,12, 7551-7563

Effects of confinement on pattern formation in two dimensional systems with competing interactions

N. G. Almarza, J. Pȩkalski and A. Ciach, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 7551 DOI: 10.1039/C6SM01400C

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