Eur. Phys. J. E (2002) 8: 403-411
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2002-10022-4

Phase transitions in lyotropic nematic gels

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

^* e-mail: david@turner.pct.espci.fr

Received: 15 February 2002
Revised: 14 June 2002
Published online: 25 January 2014

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the equilibrium phases and collapse transitions of a lyotropic nematic gel immersed in an isotropic solvent. A nematic gel consists of a cross-linked polymer network with rod-like molecules embedded in it. Upon decreasing the quality of the solvent, we find that a lyotropic nematic gel undergoes a discontinuous volume change accompanied by an isotropic-nematic transition. We also present phase diagrams that these systems may exhibit. In particular, we show that coexistence of two isotropic phases, of two nematic phases, or of an isotropic and a nematic phase can occur.