Global fluid phase behavior in binary mixtures of rodlike and platelike molecules

The phase behavior of a liquid-crystal forming model colloidal system containing hard rodlike and platelike particles is studied using the Parsons–Lee scaling [J. D. Parsons, Phys. Rev. A 19, 1225 (1979); S. D. Lee, J. Chem. Phys. 87, 4972 (1987)] of the Onsager theory. The rod and plate molecules are both modeled as hard cylinders. All of the mixtures considered correspond to cases in which the volume of the plate is orders of magnitude larger that the volume of the rod, so that an equivalence can be made where the plates are colloidal particles while the rods play the role of a depleting agent. A combined analysis of the isotropic–nematic bifurcation transition and spinodal demixing is carried out to determine the geometrical requirements for the stabilization of a demixing transition involving two isotropic phases. Global phase diagrams are presented in which the boundaries of isotropic phase demixing are indicated as functions of the molecular parameters. Using a parameter z which corresponds to the p...