Percolation in suspensions of hard nanoparticles: From spheres to needles

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

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: Sep 11, 2016
• 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
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1422965
• Related Public URLs: http://arxiv.org/abs/1505.07660