Grafted Rods: A Tilting Phase Transition

A tilting phase transition is predicted for systems comprising rod like molecules which are irreversibly grafted to a flat surface, so that the non interacting rods are perpendicularly oriented. The transition is controlled by the grafting density ρ. It occurs as ρ increases as a result of the interplay between two energies. Tilt is favoured by the van der Waals attraction between the rods. It is opposed by the bending elasticity of the grafting functionality. The role of temperature is discussed, and the tilting mechanism is compared to other tilting transitions reported in the literature.