Orientational Order of Chain Forming Ferroelectric Nano Particles in Heptane .
ORAL
Abstract
Previous computational work [1] has shown that under the appropriate conditions, dipolar spheres aggregate and form chains. In this report, we study nano-sized ferroelectric BaTiO$_{3 }$particles dispersed in heptane. We demonstrate dependence of the particles organization in the colloid \textit{vs.} particles size and concentration. When the particles are large ($>$40 nm) they sediment to the bottom of the solution; smaller particles ($\sim $10-15 nm) form gels or networks that do not sediment. Probing particle organization by means of freeze fracture electron microscopy reveals that at small sizes ferroelectric particles form a network of chains of particles that have local nematic like order. We compare our observations with the described in literature predictions. [1] J. Weis, D. Levesque Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2729 (1993).
*This work was supported by NSF MRSEC Grant No. DMR 0213918.
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Authors
Ramsey Majzoub
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
Loren Hough
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
LCMRC, Physics Department, University of Colorado, Boulder
Cheol Park
Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, U.S.A
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
Joseph Maclennan
Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, U.S.A
Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Material Research Center, University of Colorado at Boulder
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
University of Colorado
Noel Clark
Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, U.S.A
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
Anatoliy Glushchenko
Physics Department, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
