Patterns in 2D core-softened systems: From sphere to dumbbell colloids

How Dimensionality Affects the Structural Anomaly in a Core-Softened Collo

“…The shape and the type of interaction between colloidal particles combined with the presence of distinct confining surfaces have key roles in self-assembly, phase separation, interfacial activities and anomalous behavior of systems modeled by CS potentials [49][50][51][52][53]. Those peculiarities are in agreement with several experiments involving colloidal cluster, formation of self-assembled mesophases, layering packing and synthesis of new structures using amphiphilic molecules [54][55][56][57][58][59].…”

“…But where is the boundary between the 3D behavior, with one region of structural anomaly in the fluid phase associated to a crystalline-amorphous solid transition [75,86] and the 2D behavior, where up to three anomalous structural regions was found [49,62]? To unveil this location, we expand our previous works [64,82,83] to see what happens in the quasi-2D limit with the CS model confined between two flat, highly repulsive solvophobic walls.…”

Core-softened colloid under extreme geometrical confinement

“…Notably, the orientational pair ordering, C 2 , also escalates. Evaluating the values of C l in the 2D-limit (L z = 2.0), they resemble those observed in the Kagome phase for the 2D scenario, 78,95 and, as depicted in Fig. 5 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2024 smaller, dimer-like formations, as shown in Fig.…”

“…As the slit expands allowing the formation of two layers, C 6 rises and dominates the particle orientation, as expected for a triangular phase. In our previous works, 78,95 we referred to this as a Low-Density Triangular (LDT) phase, given that the particle separation equals the soft shell scale, as seen in Fig. 3(e).…”

A DPD model of soft spheres with waterlike anomalies and poly(a)morphism

“…In their experimental and computational studies, the larger, fully covered by DNA colloids can be effectively modeled using a two-length-scale potential, while the smaller NPs introduce an intermediary scale into the competition, leading to the emergence of extra characteristic length scales in the effective interaction. 82,83 In our model, the crystallization of the gyroid phase occurs concomitantly with an increase in the occupation of the intermediate peak located between the length scales r HC and r SC , as depicted in the RDF shown in Fig. 4(a).…”