Charge profiles in liquid electrolytes are of crucial importance for applications such as supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, or the self-assembly of particles in colloidal or biological settings. However, creating localized (screened) charge profiles in the bulk of such electrolytes generally requires the presence of surfaces—for example, provided by colloidal particles or outer surfaces of the material—which poses a fundamental constraint on the material design. Here, we show that topological defects in nematic electrolytes can perform as regions for local charge separation, forming charged defect cores and, in some geometries, even electric multilayers, as opposed to the electric double layers found in isotropic electrolytes. Using a Landau-de Gennes-Poisson-Boltzmann theoretical framework, we show that ions highly effectively couple with the topological defect cores via ion solvability and with the local director-field distortions of the defects via flexoelectricity. The defect charging is shown for different defect types—lines, points, and walls—using geometries of ionically screened flat isotropic-nematic interfaces, radial hedgehog point defects, and half-integer wedge disclinations in the bulk and as stabilized by (charged) colloidal particles. More generally, our findings are relevant for possible applications where topological defects act as diffuse ionic capacitors or as ionic charge carriers.

中文翻译：

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向列流体中的带电电荷拓扑缺陷

液体电解质中的电荷分布对于诸如超级电容器，燃料电池，电池或胶体或生物环境中颗粒的自组装等应用至关重要。但是，要在大量此类电解质中创建局部（筛选）的电荷分布，通常需要存在表面（例如，由胶体颗粒或材料的外表面提供的表面），这对材料设计构成了基本限制。在这里，我们表明向列电解质中的拓扑缺陷可以用作局部电荷分离的区域，形成带电的缺陷核，并且在某些几何形状中甚至可以形成电多层，这与在各向同性电解质中发现的双电层相反。使用Landau-de Gennes-Poisson-Boltzmann理论框架，我们表明，离子通过离子可溶性与拓扑缺陷核高效耦合，并通过柔电与缺陷的局部指向矢场畸变耦合。使用离子筛选的平面各向同性-向列界面的几何形状，径向刺猬点缺陷和整体中的半整数楔形错位（通过（带电的）胶体稳定化）显示了针对不同缺陷类型（线，点和壁）的缺陷带电粒子。更广泛地说，我们的发现与拓扑缺陷充当扩散离子电容器或离子电荷载体的可能应用有关。和壁-使用离子屏蔽的几何形状的平面各向同性-向列相界面，径向刺猬点缺陷和大半整数楔形错位，并由（带电）胶体粒子稳定。更广泛地说，我们的发现与拓扑缺陷充当扩散离子电容器或离子电荷载体的可能应用有关。和壁面-使用离子屏蔽的平面各向同性-向列界面的几何形状，径向刺猬点缺陷，以及通过（带电）胶体颗粒稳定的散装的半整数楔形错位。更广泛地说，我们的发现与拓扑缺陷充当扩散离子电容器或离子电荷载体的可能应用有关。