Pressure Dependence of Phase Transition Behaviour in Nematic and Isotropic Phases for the Gay–Berne Discogens

Abstract

We investigated pressure dependence of phase transition behaviour in the nematic–isotropic phase transition with molecular dynamics simulations of the Gay-Berne disc model over a range of pressures from 5.0 to 30.0 before investigating molecular and director dynamics of the system. The nematic–isotropic transition temperature changes non-linearly, which is similar to the change in real nematics. The change in the transition temperature can be fitted with a second order polynomial function. Moreover, the Clapeyron relationship between the systems at two different pressures is also reasonably valid.

Keywords:

• Discotic
• Gay-Berne model
• molecular dynamic simulations
• nematic
• pressure dependence

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Science from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The author thanks JSPS for financial support.