Tanja Schilling

Controlling electrical percolation in multicomponent carbon nanotube dispersions

Carbon nanotube reinforced polymeric composites can have favourable electrical properties, which make them useful for applications such as flat-panel displays and photovoltaic devices. However, using aqueous dispersions to fabricate composites with specific physical properties requires that the processing of the nanotube dispersion be understood and controlled while in the liquid phase. Here, using a combination of experiment and theory, we study the electrical percolation of carbon nanotubes introduced into a polymer matrix, and show that the percolation threshold can be substantially lowered by adding small quantities of a conductive polymer latex. Mixing colloidal particles of different sizes and shapes (in this case, spherical latex particles and rod-like nanotubes) introduces competing length scales that can strongly influence the formation of the system-spanning networks that are needed to produce electrically conductive composites. Interplay between the different species in the dispersions leads to synergetic or antagonistic percolation, depending on the ease of charge transport between the various conductive components.

Precursor-mediated crystallization process in suspensions of hard spheres.

We report on a large scale computer simulation study of crystal nucleation in hard spheres. Through a combined analysis of real- and reciprocal-space data, a picture of a two-step crystallization process is supported: First, dense, amorphous clusters form which then act as precursors for the nucleation of well-ordered crystallites. This kind of crystallization process has been previously observed in systems that interact via potentials that have an attractive as well as a repulsive part, most prominently in protein solutions. In this context the effect has been attributed to the presence of metastable fluid-fluid demixing. Our simulations, however, show that a purely repulsive system (that has no metastable fluid-fluid coexistence) crystallizes via the same mechanism.

Isotropic-nematic interface in suspensions of hard rods: mean-field properties and capillary waves.

We present a study of the isotropic-nematic interface in a system of hard spherocylinders. First we compare results from Monte Carlo simulations and Onsager density functional theory for the interfacial profiles of the orientational order parameter and the density. Those interfacial properties that are not affected by capillary waves are in good agreement, despite the fact that Onsager theory overestimates the coexistence densities. Then we show results of a Monte Carlo study of the capillary waves of the interface. In agreement with recent theoretical investigations [Elgeti and Schmid, Eur. Phys. J. E 18, 407 (2005)] we find a strongly anisotropic capillary wave spectrum. For the wave numbers accessed in our simulations, the spectrum is quadratic, i.e., elasticity does not play a role. We conjecture that this effect is due to the strong bending rigidity of the director field in suspensions of spherocylinders.

Depletion-induced percolation in networks of nanorods

Above a certain density threshold, suspensions of rodlike colloidal particles form system-spanning networks. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate how the depletion forces caused by spherical particles affect these networks in isotropic suspensions of rods. Although the depletion forces are strongly anisotropic and favor alignment of the rods, the percolation threshold of the rods decreases significantly. The relative size of the effect increases with the aspect ratio of the rods. The structural changes induced in the suspension by the depletant are characterized in detail and the system is compared to an ideal fluid of freely interpenetrable rods.

Graphene liquid crystal retarded percolation for new high-k materials.

Graphene flakes with giant shape anisotropy are extensively used to establish connectedness electrical percolation in various heterogeneous systems. However, the percolation behaviour of graphene flakes has been recently predicted to be far more complicated than generally anticipated on the basis of excluded volume arguments. Here we confirm experimentally that graphene flakes self-assemble into nematic liquid crystals below the onset of percolation. The competition of percolation and liquid crystal transition provides a new route towards high-k materials. Indeed, near-percolated liquid-crystalline graphene-based composites display unprecedented dielectric properties with a dielectric constant improved by 260-fold increase as compared with the polymer matrix, while maintaining the loss tangent as low as 0.4. This performance is shown to depend on the structure of monodomains of graphene liquid-crystalline phases. Insights into how the liquid crystal phase transition interferes with percolation transition and thus alters the dielectric constant are discussed.

Indium-Gallium Segregation in CuInxGa1-xSe2: An Ab Initio-Based Monte Carlo Study

Thin-film solar cells with CuIn(x)Ga(1-x)Se2 (CIGS) absorber are still far below their efficiency limit, although lab cells already reach 20.1%. One important aspect is the homogeneity of the alloy. Large-scale simulations combining Monte Carlo and density functional calculations show that two phases coexist in thermal equilibrium below room temperature. Only at higher temperatures, CIGS becomes more and more a homogeneous alloy. A larger degree of inhomogeneity for Ga-rich CIGS persists over a wide temperature range, which contributes to the observed low efficiency of Ga-rich CIGS solar cells.

Gravity-induced liquid crystal phase transitions of colloidal platelets

The influence of gravity on a suspension of sterically stabilized colloidal gibbsite platelets is studied. An initially isotropic-nematic biphasic sample of such a suspension develops a columnar phase on the bottom on prolonged standing. This phenomenon is described using a simple osmotic compression model. We performed Monte Carlo simulations of cut spheres with aspect ratio L/D=1/15 and took data from the literature to supply the equations of state required for the model. We find that the model describes the observed three-phase equilibrium quite well.

Glassy dynamics in monodisperse hard ellipsoids

We present evidence from computer simulations for glassy dynamics in suspensions of monodisperse hard ellipsoids. In equilibrium, almost spherical ellipsoids show a first-order transition from an isotropic phase to a rotator phase. When overcompressing the isotropic phase into the rotator regime, we observe super-Arrhenius slowing-down of diffusion and relaxation, accompanied by two-step relaxation in positional and orientational correlators. The effects are strong enough for asymptotic laws of mode-coupling theory to apply. Glassy dynamics are unusual in monodisperse systems. Typically, polydispersity in size, a mixture of particle species or network-forming covalent bonds are prerequisite to prevent crystallization. Here, we show that a slight particle anisometry acts as a sufficient source of disorder. This sheds new light on the question of which ingredients are required for glass formation.

Simple monoclinic crystal phase in suspensions of hard ellipsoids

We present a computer simulation study on the crystalline phases of hard ellipsoids of revolution. For aspect ratios >or=3 the previously suggested stretched-fcc phase [Frenkel and Mulder, Mol. Phys. 55, 1171 (1985)] is replaced by a different crystalline phase. Its unit cell contains two ellipsoids with unequal orientations. The lattice is simple monoclinic. The angle of inclination of the lattice, beta, is a very soft degree of freedom, while the two right angles are stiff. For one particular value of beta, the close-packed version of this crystal is a specimen of the family of superdense packings recently reported [Donev, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 255506 (2004)]. These results are relevant for studies of nucleation and glassy dynamics of colloidal suspensions of ellipsoids.

Free energies, vacancy concentrations, and density distribution anisotropies in hard-sphere crystals: A combined density functional and simulation study

We perform a comparative study of the free energies and the density distributions in hard-sphere crystals using Monte Carlo simulations and density functional theory (employing Fundamental Measure functionals). Using a recently introduced technique [T. Schilling and F. Schmid, J. Chem. Phys. 131, 231102 (2009)] we obtain crystal free energies to a high precision. The free energies from fundamental measure theory are in good agreement with the simulation results and demonstrate the applicability of these functionals to the treatment of other problems involving crystallization. The agreement between fundamental measure theory and simulations on the level of the free energies is also reflected in the density distributions around single lattice sites. Overall, the peak widths and anisotropy signs for different lattice directions agree, however, it is found that fundamental measure theory gives slightly narrower peaks with more anisotropy than seen in the simulations. Among the three types of fundamental measure functionals studied, only the White Bear II functional [H. Hansen-Goos and R. Roth, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18, 8413 (2006)] exhibits sensible results for the equilibrium vacancy concentration and a physical behavior of the chemical potential in crystals constrained by a fixed vacancy concentration.