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Updated: Jul 20, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Structure formation and fractionation in systems of polydisperse attractive rods
Andreas Richter1, Thomas Gruhn
1Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany. richter@mpikg.mpg.de
Abstract:
Fractionation effects and the formation of structured domains are investigated in polydisperse systems of attractive spherocylinders with the help of Monte Carlo simulations. For sufficiently high attractive interaction strength and pressure, the large rods in the system aggregate and form a highly ordered hexatic monolayer that coexists with an isotropic fluid of smaller rods. Fractionation diminishes with decreasing interaction strength but is still observed for hard rod systems, in which the large rods form a nematic droplet rather than a monolayer. Results for polydisperse systems are accompanied by phase diagrams for monodisperse systems of attractive spherocylinders. Here, the phase behavior is shown as a function of rod length and pressure.
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