Self-assembly of laterally-tethered nanorods.

We report results from a computational study of laterally tethered nanorod "shape amphiphiles". Our simulations predict that the model nanorods self-assemble into stepped-ribbon-like micelles, a centered rectangular stepped-ribbon phase, and two structurally different liquid crystalline bilayer phases: one in which the bilayers have C(mm) symmetry and another in which they have P(2) symmetry. We provide a possible explanation for the transition between the two C(mm) and P(2) liquid crystalline phases.