@article { ISI:000326126000033, title = {Exclusion from hexagonal mesophase surfactant domains drives end-to-end enchainment of rod-like particles}, journal = {Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {117}, number = {41}, year = {2013}, month = {OCT}, pages = {12661-12668}, publisher = {AMER CHEMICAL SOC}, address = {1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA}, abstract = {

Anisotropic rod-like particles assemble end-to-end when the surfactant/water matrix in which they are dispersed is cooled from the isotropic to the lyotropic hexagonal phase. We demonstrate the formation of such end-to-end assemblies for gold nanorods, which are tens of nanometers in size, as well as for micrometer-sized ellipsoidal polystyrene particles. In both cases, the particles are well-dispersed in the low-viscosity surfactant/water phase above the isotropic-H-1 transition temperature. On cooling into the H-1 phase, mesophase domains form and the particles are expelled to the isotropic phase. As the H-1 domains grow and finally impinge, the particles are localized at the domain boundaries where they reorient and assemble end-to-end. Remarkably, we observe the formation of end-to-end assemblies of gold nanorods even for volume fractions as low as 2 x 10(-6) in the initially dispersed state. The extent of particle {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}enchainment{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} increases with the particle concentration and with the aspect ratio of the particles.

}, issn = {1520-6106}, doi = {10.1021/jp407403a}, author = {Sharma, Kamendra P. and Ganai, Anal Kumar and Sen, Debasis and Bhagavatula L. V. Prasad and Kumaraswamy, Guruswamy} }