Topological defects of dipole patchy particles on a spherical surface

Abstract

We investigate the assembly of dipole-like patchy particles confined to a spherical surface by Brownian dynamics simulations. The surface property of the spherical particle is described by the spherical harmonic Y₁₀, and the orientation of the particle is defined as the uniaxial axis. On a flat space, we observe a defect-free square lattice with nematic order. On a spherical surface, defects appear due to the topological constraint. As for the director field, four defects of winding number +1/2 are observed, satisfying the Euler characteristic. We have found many configurations of the four defects lying near a great circle. Regarding the positional order for the square lattice, eight grain boundary scars proliferate linearly with the sphere size. The positions and orientations of the eight grain boundary scars are strongly related to the four +1/2 defect cores.