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Chen W, Zhu Y, Cui F, Liu L, Sun Z, Chen J, Li Y. GPU-Accelerated Molecular Dynamics Simulation to Study Liquid Crystal Phase Transition Using Coarse-Grained Gay-Berne Anisotropic Potential. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0151704. [PMID: 26986851 PMCID: PMC4795799 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2015] [Accepted: 03/02/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Gay-Berne (GB) potential is regarded as an accurate model in the simulation of anisotropic particles, especially for liquid crystal (LC) mesogens. However, its computational complexity leads to an extremely time-consuming process for large systems. Here, we developed a GPU-accelerated molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with coarse-grained GB potential implemented in GALAMOST package to investigate the LC phase transitions for mesogens in small molecules, main-chain or side-chain polymers. For identical mesogens in three different molecules, on cooling from fully isotropic melts, the small molecules form a single-domain smectic-B phase, while the main-chain LC polymers prefer a single-domain nematic phase as a result of connective restraints in neighboring mesogens. The phase transition of side-chain LC polymers undergoes a two-step process: nucleation of nematic islands and formation of multi-domain nematic texture. The particular behavior originates in the fact that the rotational orientation of the mesogenes is hindered by the polymer backbones. Both the global distribution and the local orientation of mesogens are critical for the phase transition of anisotropic particles. Furthermore, compared with the MD simulation in LAMMPS, our GPU-accelerated code is about 4 times faster than the GPU version of LAMMPS and at least 200 times faster than the CPU version of LAMMPS. This study clearly shows that GPU-accelerated MD simulation with GB potential in GALAMOST can efficiently handle systems with anisotropic particles and interactions, and accurately explore phase differences originated from molecular structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenduo Chen
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Rubber & Laboratory of Advanced Power Sources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Youliang Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Fengchao Cui
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Rubber & Laboratory of Advanced Power Sources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Lunyang Liu
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Rubber & Laboratory of Advanced Power Sources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Zhaoyan Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Jizhong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
| | - Yunqi Li
- Key Laboratory of Synthetic Rubber & Laboratory of Advanced Power Sources, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun, PR China
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Di Pietro ME, Celebre G, De Luca G, Zimmermann H, Cinacchi G. Smectic order parameters via liquid crystal NMR spectroscopy: Application to a partial bilayer smectic A phase. THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL. E, SOFT MATTER 2012; 35:112. [PMID: 23099532 DOI: 10.1140/epje/i2012-12112-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2012] [Revised: 07/05/2012] [Accepted: 10/05/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Solute molecules were dissolved in the liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-n-octyloxybiphenyl (8OCB), known to form a partial bilayer smectic-A phase. Through measurement of solutes' and solvent's orientational order parameters via nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and their analysis via a statistical thermodynamic density functional theory, values of the solvent's positional order parameters and solutes' positional-orientational distribution functions were obtained. Near to the transition to the nematic phase, the main positional order parameter of the smectic liquid crystal turned out to be comprised in the interval 0.4-0.6, though the quality of the fittings assuming the phase as nematic all across the temperature range investigated was only slightly worse. This may be ascribed to the looseness of the partial bilayer smectic structure. Solutes were found to preferentially lie in those regions where liquid crystal molecule terminal chains are located.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Enrica Di Pietro
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università della Calabria, Campus di Arcavacata, Via Pietro Bucci Cubo 12C, I-87036, Rende (Cosenza), Italy
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Huh Y, Cann NM. Discrimination in isotropic, nematic, and smectic phases of chiral calamitic molecules: a computer simulation study. J Chem Phys 2004; 121:10299-308. [PMID: 15549907 DOI: 10.1063/1.1809593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Racemic fluids of chiral calamitic molecules are investigated with molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, the phase behavior as a function of density is examined for eight racemates. The relationship between chiral discrimination and orientational order in the phase is explored. We find that the transition from the isotropic phase to a liquid crystal phase is accompanied by an increase in chiral discrimination, as measured by differences in radial distributions. Among ordered phases, discrimination is largest for smectic phases with a significant preference for heterochiral contact within the layers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Huh
- Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
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