Crystallization kinetics of colloidal binary mixtures with depletion attraction

Kozina, Anna; Dı́az-Leyva, Pedro; Palberg, Thomas; Bartsch, E.

doi:10.1039/c4sm02193b

Cited by 23 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…In metal melts, the presence of point defects caused by a size mismatch of 15% suppresses crystallization [1] and in hard spheres, an important model system for condensed matter, crystallization is suppressed for polydispersities > 12%. Furthermore, the polydispersity in a monocrystal of hard spheres is not higher than 5.7%, as particle segregation occurs during crystallization [2][3][4][5][6]. Since size mismatch strongly limits the formation of crystals, it came as a big surprise that this limitation does not apply for soft, colloidal microgels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase behavior of binary and polydisperse suspensions of compressible microgels controlled by selective particle deswelling

et al. 2017

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We investigate the phase behavior of suspensions of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) microgels with either bimodal or polydisperse size distribution. We observe a shift of the fluid-crystal transition to higher concentrations depending on the polydispersity or the fraction of large particles in suspension. Crystallization is observed up to polydispersities as high as 18.5%, and up to a number fraction of large particles of 29% in bidisperse suspensions. The crystal structure is random hexagonal close-packed as in monodisperse pNIPAM microgel suspensions. We explain our experimental results by considering the effect of bound counterions. Above a critical particle concentration, these cause deswelling of the largest microgels, which are the softest, changing the size distribution of the suspension and enabling crystal formation in conditions where incompressible particles would not crystallize.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phase behavior of binary and polydisperse suspensions of compressible microgels controlled by selective particle deswelling

et al. 2017

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“…This effect has been observed experimentally for the individual polydisperse components of a eutectic binary mixture. 56 Moreover, sorting into L and S was also favored in the eutectic region of the same mixture. 30 In the experiments, we observe the crystallization of the pure S-component from the mixed ing.…”

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confidence: 98%

Formation of Laves phases in buoyancy matched hard sphere suspensions

et al. 2018

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Colloidal Laves phases (LPs) are promising precursors for photonic materials. Laves phases have not yet been observed to form in experiments on colloidal suspensions of hard spheres (HS), even though they have been reported in computer simulations. LP formation so far has been achieved only for binary mixtures of colloidal charged spheres or ligand-stabilized nano-particles after drying. Using static light scattering, we monitored LP formation and annealing in a binary mixture of buoyant hard sphere approximants (size ratio Γ = 0.77, number or molar fraction of small spheres xS = 0.76) for volume fractions in the fluid-crystal coexistence regions. All samples spontaneously formed MgZn2 type LPs on the time scale of weeks to months via bulk nucleation and growth. Irrespective of the initial suspension volume fractions, the LP volume fraction at coexistence is ΦCOEX = 0.59 which is significantly below the close packing limit ΦMAX = 0.615 and remarkably close to the expectation from simulation. At low volume fractions, crystals anneal to high quality during coarsening which is in line with recent theoretical expectations for the thermodynamic stability of different LP types. At large volume fractions, however, the diffractograms evolve towards a more MgCu2-like appearance which we attribute to the formation of randomly stacked LPs. Such structures are not known from atomic systems.

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“…when the crystallization is avoided by changing the hydrogen bonding propensity, or the molecular composition of the studied samples212223. Even for colloidal suspensions, the phase behavior and crystallization kinetics can be changed by adding polymers that produce attractions between the particles242526.…”

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Glass-Forming Tendency of Molecular Liquids and the Strength of the Intermolecular Attractions

Koperwas

Adrjanowicz

Wojnarowska

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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When we cool down a liquid below the melting temperature, it can either crystallize or become supercooled, and then form a disordered solid called glass. Understanding what makes a liquid to crystallize readily in one case and form a stable glass in another is a fundamental problem in science and technology. Here we show that the crystallization/glass-forming tendencies of the molecular liquids might be correlated with the strength of the intermolecular attractions, as determined from the combined experimental and computer simulation studies. We use van der Waals bonded propylene carbonate and its less polar structural analog 3-methyl-cyclopentanone to show that the enhancement of the dipole-dipole forces brings about the better glass-forming ability of the sample when cooling from the melt. Our finding was rationalized by the mismatch between the optimal temperature range for the nucleation and crystal growth, as obtained for a modeled Lennard-Jones system with explicitly enhanced or weakened attractive part of the intermolecular 6–12 potential.

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Crystallization kinetics of colloidal binary mixtures with depletion attraction

Cited by 23 publications

References 80 publications

Phase behavior of binary and polydisperse suspensions of compressible microgels controlled by selective particle deswelling

Phase behavior of binary and polydisperse suspensions of compressible microgels controlled by selective particle deswelling

Formation of Laves phases in buoyancy matched hard sphere suspensions

Glass-Forming Tendency of Molecular Liquids and the Strength of the Intermolecular Attractions

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