Dependence on sphere size of the phase behavior of mixtures of rods and spheres

By the addition of chondroitin sulfate (Chs) to the aqueous suspension of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the aggregation of TMV occurs at very dilute TMV concentration compared with the addition of polyethylene oxide (PEO). The difference of physical behavior between Chs and PEO is the chain conformation in solution. The Chs chain has a semirigid nature, whereas the PEO chain has a flexible nature. In this study, the Chs and PEO chains are simplified to spherical particles having different size, and we use the spherocylinder model for TMV particle. The effect of the sphere size on the phase behaviors in the mixtures of rods and spheres is investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. By the addition of small spheres, the system transforms from the miscible isotropic phase to the miscible nematic phase. On the other hand, by the addition of large spheres, the system changes from the miscible isotropic phase to the immiscible nematic phase through the immiscible isotropic phase. The different phase behaviors between the small and the large spheres originate from the difference of overlapping volume of the depletion zone. In addition, we perform the Monte Carlo simulations in the case that semirigid chains are used as the Chs chain models. The same phase behaviors are observed as the mixtures of rods and large spheres. Thus the sphere model captures the phase behaviors of rod and polymer mixture systems. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.