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Percolation in suspensions of hard nanoparticles: From spheres to needles

Schilling, Tanja; Miller, Mark A.; van der Schoot, Paul

Percolation in suspensions of hard nanoparticles: From spheres to needles Thumbnail


Authors

Tanja Schilling

Paul van der Schoot



Abstract

We investigate geometric percolation and scaling relations in suspensions of nanorods, covering the entire range of aspect ratios from spheres to extremely slender needles. A new version of connectedness percolation theory is introduced and tested against specialised Monte Carlo simulations. The theory accurately predicts percolation thresholds for aspect ratios of rod length to width as low as 10. The percolation threshold for rod-like particles of aspect ratios below 1000 deviates significantly from the inverse aspect ratio scaling prediction, thought to be valid in the limit of infinitely slender rods and often used as a rule of thumb for nanofibres in composite materials. Hence, most fibres that are currently used as fillers in composite materials cannot be regarded as practically infinitely slender for the purposes of percolation theory. Comparing percolation thresholds of hard rods and new benchmark results for ideal rods, we find that i) for large aspect ratios, they differ by a factor that is inversely proportional to the connectivity distance between the hard cores, and ii) they approach the slender rod limit differently.

Citation

Schilling, T., Miller, M. A., & van der Schoot, P. (2015). Percolation in suspensions of hard nanoparticles: From spheres to needles. European Physical Society Letters, 111(5), Article 56004. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/111/56004

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 20, 2015
Online Publication Date Sep 11, 2015
Publication Date Sep 1, 2015
Deposit Date Sep 13, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Europhysics Letters
Print ISSN 0295-5075
Electronic ISSN 1286-4854
Publisher IOP Publishing
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 111
Issue 5
Article Number 56004
DOI https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/111/56004
Related Public URLs http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.07660

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Accepted Journal Article (274 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in EPL (Europhysics letters). IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/111/56004





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