Reference : Depletion-interaction effects on the tunneling conductivity of nanorod suspensions

	Document type :	Scientific journals : Article
	Discipline(s) :	Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences : Physics
	To cite this reference:	http://hdl.handle.net/10993/9536

Title :	Depletion-interaction effects on the tunneling conductivity of nanorod suspensions
Language :	English
Author, co-author :	Nigro, B. [Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL > LPM]
	Grimaldi, C. [Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL > Laboratory of Physics of Complex Matter]
	Miller, M.A [Durham University > Department of Chemistry]
	Ryser, P. [Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - EPFL > LPM]
	Schilling, Tanja [University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC) > Physics and Materials Science Research Unit >]
Publication date :	2013
Journal title :	Physical Review. E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Publisher :	American Physical Society
Volume :	88
Issue/season :	042140
Peer reviewed :	Yes (verified by ORBilu)
Audience :	International
ISSN :	1539-3755
e-ISSN :	1550-2376
City :	College Park
Country :	MD
Abstract :	[en] We study by simulation and theory how the addition of insulating spherical particles affects the conductivity of fluids of conducting rods, modeled by spherocylinders. The electrical connections are implemented as tunneling processes, leading to a more detailed and realistic description than a discontinuous percolation approach. We find that the spheres enhance the tunneling conductivity for a given concentration of rods and that the enhancement increases with rod concentration into the regime where the conducting network is well established. By reformulating the network of rods using a critical path analysis, we quantify the effect of depletion-induced attraction between the rods due to the spheres. Furthermore, we show that our conductivity data are quantitatively reproduced by an effective-medium approximation, which explicitly relates the system tunneling conductance to the structure of the rod-sphere fluid.
Permalink :	http://hdl.handle.net/10993/9536
DOI :	10.1103/PhysRevE.88.042140

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