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Observation of liquid glass in suspensions of ellipsoidal colloids
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Significance Using tailor-made colloids and confocal microscopy, we study the effect of shape on the glass transition in 3D suspensions of ellipsoidal colloids. Experimental data, supporting simulations, and a theoretical analysis reveal a unique state: liquid glass. In liquid glasses, orientational degrees of freedom are frozen whereas translation is free. Global nematic order is absent. We show that, in the liquid glass state, nematic precursors as hitherto unknown structures exist. In these, nematic order is suppressed by the intersection of clusters of ordered particles with differently ordered particles. Our data thus give insight into the glass transition and reveal an additional state of matter. The latter is expected to also have implications in liquid crystal formation.<br />Despite the omnipresence of colloidal suspensions, little is known about the influence of colloid shape on phase transformations, especially in nonequilibrium. To date, real-space imaging results at high concentrations have been limited to systems composed of spherical colloids. In most natural and technical systems, however, particles are nonspherical, and their structural dynamics are determined by translational and rotational degrees of freedom. Using confocal microscopy of fluorescently labeled core–shell particles, we reveal that suspensions of ellipsoidal colloids form an unexpected state of matter, a liquid glass in which rotations are frozen while translations remain fluid. Image analysis unveils hitherto unknown nematic precursors as characteristic structural elements of this state. The mutual obstruction of these ramified clusters prevents liquid crystalline order. Our results give insight into the interplay between local structures and phase transformations. This helps to guide applications such as self-assembly of colloidal superstructures and also gives evidence of the importance of shape on the glass transition in general.
- Subjects :
- Materials science
FOS: Physical sciences
Non-equilibrium thermodynamics
colloidal dispersion
mode coupling theory
Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter
confocal microscopy
Condensed Matter::Disordered Systems and Neural Networks
Colloid
Liquid crystal
ellipsoidal core
Phase (matter)
ddc:530
glass transition
Condensed Matter - Materials Science
Multidisciplinary
Physics
digestive, oral, and skin physiology
Technical systems
Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
shell colloids
Ellipsoid
Condensed Matter::Soft Condensed Matter
Chemical physics
colloidal dispersion, glass transition, ellipsoidal core–shell colloids, confocal microscopy, mode coupling theory
Physical Sciences
State of matter
Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
Glass transition
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490 and 00278424
- Volume :
- 118
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....0eeea8a76dd35757e410df7668e585b6