Entropic Unmixing in Nematic Blends of Semiflexible Polymers

Binary mixtures of semiflexible polymers with the same chain length, but different persistence lengths, separate into two coexisting different nematic phases when the osmotic pressure of the lyotropic solution is varied. Molecular Dynamics simulations and Density Functional Theory predict phase diagrams either with a triple point, where the isotropic phase coexists with two nematic phases or a critical point of unmixing within the nematic mixture. The difference in locally preferred bond angles between the constituents drives this unmixing without any attractive interactions between monomers.