Abstract
The Gay-Berne (GB) model has been proved to be highly successful in the simulation of liquid crystal phases via both molecular dynamics (MD) and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD). However, the conventional thermostats used in the simulations of GB systems, such as Nosé-Hoover and Langevin thermostats, have serious shortcomings especially in NEMD simulations. Recently, dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) has established itself as a useful thermostat for soft matter simulations, whereas the application of DPD thermostat in (NE)MD simulations is limited to the spherically isotropic potential models, such as the Lennard-Jones model. Considering the virtues of the DPD thermostat, that is, local, momentum conserved, and Galilean invariant, we extend the DPD thermostat to the non-spherical GB model. It is interesting to find that the translational DPD and rotational DPD thermostats can be used in the GB system independently and both can achieve the thermostatting effects. Also, we compared the performance of the DPD thermostat with other commonly used thermostats in NEMD simulations by investigating the streaming velocity profiles and the dynamics of phase separation in a typical but simple binary GB mixture under shear field. It is revealed that the known virtues of DPD thermostats, such as Galilean invariant, shear velocity profile-unbiased, and unscreened hydrodynamic interactions, are still intact when applying to GB systems. Finally, the appropriate parameters for the DPD thermostat in the GB system are identified for future investigations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Sage IC, Crossland WA, Wilkinson TD, Gleeson HF, Leigh WJ, Workentin MS. Handbook of Liquid Crystals, 1st ed. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH, 1998, Volume 1, 731–895
Wilson MR. Molecular simulation of liquid crystals: progress towards a better understanding of bulk structure and the prediction of material properties. Chem Soc Rev, 2007, 36:1881–1888
Zhang JG, Su JY and Guo HX. An atomistic simulation for 4-Cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl and its homologue with a reoptimized force field. J Phys Chem B, 2011, 115: 2214–2227.
Zhang JG, Su JY, Ma YP and Guo HX. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of the phase behavior of the 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl liquid crystal system. J Phys Chem B, 2012, 116: 2075–2089
Zhang ZM and Guo HX. The phase behavior, structure, and dynamics of rodlike mesogens with various flexibility using dissipative particle dynamics simulation. J Chem Phys, 2010, 133: 144911
Komolkin A, Laaksonen A, and Maliniak A. Molecular dynamics simulation of a nematic liquid crystal. J Chem Phys, 1994, 101, 4103–4116
Berne B, Pechukas P. Gaussian model potentials for molecular interactions. J Chem Phys, 1972, 56: 4213–4216
Gay J, Berne B. Modification of the overlap potential to mimic a linear site-site potential. J. Chem. Phys, 1981, 74: 3316–3319
Adams, DJ, Luckhurst, GR, Phippen, RW. Computer simulation studies of anisotropic systems. XVII. The Gay-Berne model nematogen. Mol Phys, 1987, 61: 1575–1580
Miguel ED, Rull LF, Chalam MK and Gubbins KE. Liquid crystal phase diagram of the Gay-Berne fluid. Mol Phys, 1991, 74: 405–424.
Luckhurst GR, Stephens RA, Phippen RW. Computer simulation studies of anisotropic systems. XIX. Mesophases formed by the Gay-Berne model mesogen. Liq Cryst, 1990, 8: 451–464
Wu C. Molecular dynamics simulation of liquid cystals: phase transition and hydrodynamics. Doctor Dissertation. Beijing: Peking University, 2007
Bates MA and Luckhurst GR. The phase behaviour and structure of a Gay-Berne mesogen. J Chem Phys, 1999, 110: 7087–7108.
Wu C, Qian T, and Zhang P. Nonequilibrium-molecular-dynamics measurement of the Leslie coefficients of a Gay-Berne nematic liquid crystal. Liq Cryst, 2007, 34: 1175–1184
Luckhurst GR and Satoh K. The director and molecular dynamics of the field-induced alignment of a Gay-Berne nematic phase: an isothermal-isobaric nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation study. J Chem Phys 2010, 132: 184903
Sarman S and Evans DJ. Statistical mechanics of viscous flow in nematic fluids. J Chem Phys 1993, 99: 9021–9036.
Evans D and Morriss G. Statistical Mechanics of Nonequilibrium Liquids. London: Academic Press, 1990
Ilnytskyi JM and Wilson MR. A domain decomposition molecular dynamics program for the simulation of flexible molecules with an arbitrary topology of Lennard-Jones and/or Gay-Berne sites. Comput Phys Commun, 2002, 148: 43–58
Nosé S. A molecular dynamics method for simulations in the canonical ensemble. Mol Phys, 1984, 52: 255–268
Hoover WG. Canonical dynamics: equilibrium phase-space distributions. Phys Rev A, 1985, 31: 1695–1697
Soddemann T, Dünweg B and Kremer K. Dissipative particle dynamics: a useful thermostat for equilibrium and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. Phys Rev E, 2003, 68: 046702
Evans DJ, Hoover WG, Failor BH, Moran B and Ladd AJC. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics via Gauss’ principle of least constraint. Phys Rev A, 1983, 28: 1016–1021
Groot RD, Madden TJ and Tildesley DJ. On the role of hydrodynamic interactions in block copolymer microphase separation. J Chem Phys, 1999, 110: 9739–9749
Grest GS and Kremer K. Molecular dynamics simulation for polymers in the presence of a heat bath. Phys Rev A, 1986, 33: 3628–3631
Priezjev NV, Darhuber AA and Troian SM. Slip behavior in liquid films on surfaces of patterned wettability: comparison between con tinuum and molecular dynamics simulations. Phys Rev E, 2005, 71: 041608
Priezjev NV and Troian SM. Molecular origin and dynamic behavior of slip in sheared polymer films. Phys Rev Lett, 2004, 92: 18302
Thompson TA and Robbins MO. Shear flow near solids: epitaxial order and flow boundary conditions. Phys Rev A, 1990, 41: 6830
Pastorino C, Kreer T, Müller M and Binder K. Comparison of dissipative particle dynamics and Langevin thermostats for out-of-equilibrium simulations of polymeric systems. Phys Rev E, 2007, 76: 026706
Hoogerbrugge PJ and Koelman J. Simulating microscopic hydrodynamic phenomena with dissipative particle dynamics. Europhys Lett, 1992, 19: 155–160
Espanol P and Warren P. Statistical-mechanics of dissipative particle dynamics. Europhys Lett, 1995, 30: 191–196
Guo HX. Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation study on the orientation transition in the amphiphilic lamellar phase under shear flow. J Chem Phys, 2006, 125: 214902
Guo HX. Shear-induced parallel-to-perpendicular orientation in the amphiphilic lamellar phase: a nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation study. J Chem Phys, 2006, 124: 054902
Guo HX and Kremer K. Kinetics of the shear-induced isotropic-to-lamellar transition of an amphiphilic model system: a nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation study. J Chem Phys 2007, 127: 054902
Pan WX, Pivkin IV and Karniadakis GE. Single-particle hydrodynamics in DPD: a new formulation. Europhys Lett, 2008, 84: 10012
Takatsu H. Development and industrialization of liquid crystal materials. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst, 2006, 458: 17–26
Brown JT, Allen MP, del Río EM and de Miguel E. Effects of elongation on the phase behaviour of the Gay-Berne fluid. Phys Rev E, 1998, 57: 6685–6699
Groot RD and Warren PB. Dissipative particle dynamics: bridging the gap between atomistic and mesoscopic simulation. J Chem Phys, 1997, 107: 4423–4435
Antypov D and Cleaver DJ. The role of attractive interactions in rod-sphere mixtures. J Chem Phys, 2004, 120: 10307–10316
Laradji M, Mouritsen OG, Toxvaerd S, Zuckermann MJ. Molecular dynamics simulations of phase separation in the presence of surfactants. Phys Rev E, 1994, 50: 1243–1252
Evans DJ, Cui ST, Hanley HJM and Straty GC. Conditions for the existence of a reentrant solid phase in a sheared atomic fluid. Phys Rev A, 1992, 46: 6731–6734
Dvinskikh SV and Furó I. Anisotropic self-diffusion in the nematic phase of a thermotropic liquid crystal by 1H-spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance. J Chem Phys, 2001, 115: 1946–1950
Dvinskikh SV, Furó I, Zimmermann H and Maliniak A. Anisotropic self-diffusion in thermotropic liquid crystals studied by 1H and 2H pulse-field-gradient spin-echo NMR. Phys Rev E, 2002, 65: 061701
Kamata K, Araki T and Tanaka H. Hydrodynamic selection of the kinetic pathway of a polymer coil-globule transition. Phys Rev Lett, 2009, 102: 108303
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ouyang, Y., Hao, L., Ma, Y. et al. Dissipative particle dynamics thermostat: a novel thermostat for molecular dynamics simulation of liquid crystals with Gay-Berne potential. Sci. China Chem. 58, 694–707 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-014-5198-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-014-5198-4