Ionically Charged Topological Defects in Nematic Fluids
| Autor: | Miha Ravnik, Jeffrey C. Everts |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
electrostatic double layer forces
charged colloids Materials science materials science udc:538.9 QC1-999 General Physics and Astronomy FOS: Physical sciences Electrolyte Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter 01 natural sciences Electric charge nematski tekoči kristali 010305 fluids & plasmas Topological defect materials topološki defekti interfaces Liquid crystal Physics - Chemical Physics 0103 physical sciences Microelectronics 010306 general physics electrostatic double layer polymers fizika kondenzirane snovi nematic liquid crystals Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) Condensed Matter - Materials Science chemical physics soft matter applied physics Condensed matter physics condensed matter business.industry Physics Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) 3. Good health Condensed Matter::Soft Condensed Matter condensed matter physics elektrostatska dvojna plast flexoelectricity Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) business topological defects |
| Zdroj: | Physical Review X, Vol 11, Iss 1, p 011054 (2021) Physical review. X, vol. 11, no. 1, 011054, 2021. Physical Review X |
| ISSN: | 2160-3308 |
| Popis: | Charge profiles in liquid electrolytes are of crucial importance for applications, such as supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, or the self-assembly of particles in colloidal or biological settings. However, creating localised (screened) charge profiles in the bulk of such electrolytes, generally requires the presence of surfaces -- for example, provided by colloidal particles or outer surfaces of the material -- which poses a fundamental constraint on the material design. Here, we show that topological defects in nematic electrolytes can perform as regions for local charge separation, forming charged defect cores and in some geometries even electric multilayers, as opposed to the electric double layers found in isotropic electrolytes. Using a Landau-de Gennes-Poisson-Boltzmann theoretical framework, we show that ions highly effectively couple with the topological defect cores via ion solvability, and with the local director-field distortions of the defects via flexoelectricity. The defect charging is shown for different defect types -- lines, points, and walls -- using geometries of ionically screened flat isotropic-nematic interfaces, radial hedgehog point defects and half-integer wedge disclinations in the bulk and as stabilised by (charged) colloidal particles. More generally, our findings are relevant for possible applications where topological defects act as diffuse ionic capacitors or as ionic charge carriers. Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. V2: Added discussion and paragraph on experimental relevance |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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