Surface anchoring on liquid crystalline polymer brushes

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulations to explore how liquid crystalline polymer brushes influence surface anchoring of nematic fluids, revealing three distinct alignment regimes based on grafting density.

Contribution

Introduces a modified configurational bias Monte Carlo algorithm to study surface anchoring on swollen liquid crystalline brushes across various grafting densities.

Findings

Identifies three anchoring regimes: planar, tilted, and perpendicular.

Shows substrate influence diminishes at high grafting densities.

Demonstrates interface structure determines alignment at high densities.

Abstract

We present a Monte Carlo study of the surface anchoring of a nematic fluid on swollen layers of grafted liquid crystalline chain molecules. The liquid crystalline particles are modeled by soft repulsive ellipsoids, and the chains are made of the same particles. An appropriately modified version of the configurational bias Monte Carlo algorithm is introduced, which removes and redistributes chain bonds rather than whole monomers. With this algorithm, a wide range of grafting densities could be studied. The substrate is chosen such that it favors a planar orientation (parallel to the surface). Depending on the grafting density, we find three anchoring regimes: planar, tilted, and perpendicular alignment. At low grafting densities, the alignment is mainly driven by the substrate. At high grafting densities, the substrate gradually loses its influence and the alignment is determined by the structure of the interface between the brush and the pure solvent instead.