info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Semiflexible polymers in spherical confinement: bipolar orientational order versus tennis ball states
Fecha
2017-05Registro en:
Nikoubashman, Arash; Vega, Daniel Alberto; Binder, Kurt; Milchev, Andrey; Semiflexible polymers in spherical confinement: bipolar orientational order versus tennis ball states; American Physical Society; Physical Review Letters; 118; 21; 5-2017; 1-5; 21780
0031-9007
CONICET Digital
CONICET
Autor
Nikoubashman, Arash
Vega, Daniel Alberto
Binder, Kurt
Milchev, Andrey
Resumen
Densely packed semiflexible polymers with contour length L confined in spheres with radius R of the same order as L cannot exhibit uniform nematic order. Depending on the chain stiffness (which we vary over a wide range), highly distorted structures form with topological defects on the sphere surface. These structures are completely different from previously observed ones of very long chains winding around the inner surface of spheres and from nematic droplets. At high densities, a thin shell of polymers close to the sphere surface exhibits a tennis ball texture due to the confinement-induced gradual bending of polymer bonds. In contrast, when the contour length of the chains is significantly smaller than the radius of the confining sphere, a few bent smectic layers form in the sphere. Molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate these complex structures, and suitable order parameters characterizing them are proposed.