论文标题
列液中的离子带电拓扑缺陷
Ionically charged topological defects in nematic fluids
论文作者
论文摘要
液体电解质中的电荷轮廓对于应用,例如超级电容器,燃料电池,电池或胶体或生物学环境中颗粒的自组装至关重要。但是,在大部分此类电解质中创建局部电荷剖面,通常需要表面存在(例如,由材料的胶体颗粒或外表面提供),这对材料设计产生了基本约束。在这里,我们表明,列内电解质中的拓扑缺陷可以作为局部电荷分离的区域,形成带电的缺陷核心以及某些几何形状,甚至是电力多层,而不是各向同性电解质中的电力双层。使用Landau-de Gennes-Poisson-Boltzmann理论框架,我们表明,离子通过离子溶解度高度有效地与拓扑缺陷核心,以及通过柔性电性的本地导演场局部局部局部扭曲。使用离子筛选的平面各向同性纽扣界面,径向刺猬点缺陷和半刻度楔形脱节的几何形状,显示了不同缺陷类型(线,点和墙壁)的缺陷充电。更一般而言,我们的发现与拓扑缺陷充当弥漫性离子电容器或离子电荷载体的可能应用有关。
Charge profiles in liquid electrolytes are of crucial importance for applications, such as supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, or the self-assembly of particles in colloidal or biological settings. However, creating localised (screened) charge profiles in the bulk of such electrolytes, generally requires the presence of surfaces -- for example, provided by colloidal particles or outer surfaces of the material -- which poses a fundamental constraint on the material design. Here, we show that topological defects in nematic electrolytes can perform as regions for local charge separation, forming charged defect cores and in some geometries even electric multilayers, as opposed to the electric double layers found in isotropic electrolytes. Using a Landau-de Gennes-Poisson-Boltzmann theoretical framework, we show that ions highly effectively couple with the topological defect cores via ion solvability, and with the local director-field distortions of the defects via flexoelectricity. The defect charging is shown for different defect types -- lines, points, and walls -- using geometries of ionically screened flat isotropic-nematic interfaces, radial hedgehog point defects and half-integer wedge disclinations in the bulk and as stabilised by (charged) colloidal particles. More generally, our findings are relevant for possible applications where topological defects act as diffuse ionic capacitors or as ionic charge carriers.