Non-conventional phases of colloidal nanorods with a soft corona

Using computer simulations, we investigate the phase behavior of hard-core spherocylinders with a length-to-diameter ratio L=σ = 5 and coated by a soft deformable corona of length λ=σ = 1:35. When quasi-two-dimensional layers are formed in smectic and solid phases at low temperatures, the competition between the two intrinsic length scales of the parallel aligned particles leads to the stabilization of different in-plane lattices of non-conventional symmetry, including low-density-hexagonal, square and high-density-hexagonal crystals as well as an intriguing dodecagonal quasicrystal. Our study opens up the opportunity of controlling the assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles into structures with pre-engineered symmetry-dependent physical properties.