Self-Assembly of Laterally-Tethered Nanorods

Abstract

We report results from a computational study of laterally tethered nanorod “shape amphiphiles”. Our simulations predict that the model nanorods self-assemble into stepped-ribbon-like micelles, a centered rectangular stepped-ribbon phase, and two structurally different liquid crystalline bilayer phases: one in which the bilayers have Cmm symmetry and another in which they have P2 symmetry. We provide a possible explanation for the transition between the two Cmm and P2 liquid crystalline phases.