Thermally fluctuating, semiflexible sheets in simple shear flow

Abstract

We perform Brownian dynamics simulations of semiflexible colloidal sheets with hydrodynamic interactions and thermal fluctuations in shear flow. As a function of the ratio of bending rigidity to shear energy (a dimensionless quantity we denote S) and the ratio of bending rigidity to thermal energy, we observe a dynamical transition from stochastic flipping to crumpling and continuous tumbling. This dynamical transition is broadened by thermal fluctuations, and the value of S at which it occurs is consistent with the onset of chaotic dynamics found for athermal sheets. The effects of different dynamical conformations on rheological properties such as viscosity and normal stress differences are also quantified. Namely, the viscosity in a dilute dispersion of sheets is found to decrease with increasing shear rate (shear-thinning) up until the dynamical crumpling transition, at which point it increases again (shear-thickening), and non-zero first normal stress differences are found that exhibit a local maximum with respect to temperature at large S (small shear rate). These results shed light on the dynamical behavior of fluctuating 2D materials dispersed in fluids and should greatly inform the design of associated solution processing methods.