Depletion-Driven Crystallization of Cubic Colloids Sedimented on a Surface

Published

May 19, 2016

Author(s)

Harold W. Hatch, William P. Krekelberg, Steven D Hudson, Vincent K. Shen

Abstract

Cubic colloids, sedimented on a surface and immersed in a solution of depletant molecules, were modeled with a family of shapes which smoothly varies from squares to circles. Using Wang-Landau simulations with expanded ensembles, we observe the formation of rhombic lattices, square lattices, hexagonal lattices and a fluid phase. This systematic investigation includes locating transitions between all combinations of the three lattice structures upon changing the shape, and transitions between the fluid and crystal upon changing the depletant concentration. The rhombic lattice deforms smoothly between square-like and hexagonal-like angles, depending on both the shape and the depletant concentration. Our results on the effect of the deple- tant concentration, depletant size, and colloid shape to influence the stability of the fluid and the lattice structures may help guide experimental studies with recently synthesized cubic colloids.

Citation

Journal of Chemical Physics

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949758

Keywords

self-assembly, colloids, computer simulation

Citation

Hatch, H. , Krekelberg, W. , , S. and Shen, V. (2016), Depletion-Driven Crystallization of Cubic Colloids Sedimented on a Surface, Journal of Chemical Physics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949758 (Accessed April 18, 2024)