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Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres

[Image: see text] Colloidal crystals with a diamond and pyrochlore structure display wide photonic band gaps at low refractive index contrasts. However, these low-coordinated and open structures are notoriously difficult to self-assemble from colloids interacting with simple pair interactions. To ci...

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Autores principales: Dasgupta, Tonnishtha, Coli, Gabriele M., Dijkstra, Marjolein
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2020
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7199208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32250589
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b07090
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author Dasgupta, Tonnishtha
Coli, Gabriele M.
Dijkstra, Marjolein
author_facet Dasgupta, Tonnishtha
Coli, Gabriele M.
Dijkstra, Marjolein
author_sort Dasgupta, Tonnishtha
collection PubMed
description [Image: see text] Colloidal crystals with a diamond and pyrochlore structure display wide photonic band gaps at low refractive index contrasts. However, these low-coordinated and open structures are notoriously difficult to self-assemble from colloids interacting with simple pair interactions. To circumvent these problems, one can self-assemble both structures in a closely packed MgCu(2) Laves phase from a binary mixture of colloidal spheres and then selectively remove one of the sublattices. Although Laves phases have been proven to be stable in a binary hard-sphere system, they have never been observed to spontaneously crystallize in such a fluid mixture in simulations nor in experiments of micron-sized hard spheres due to slow dynamics. Here we demonstrate, using computer simulations, that softness in the interparticle potential suppresses the degree of 5-fold symmetry in the binary fluid phase and enhances crystallization of Laves phases in nearly hard spheres.
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spelling pubmed-71992082020-05-05 Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres Dasgupta, Tonnishtha Coli, Gabriele M. Dijkstra, Marjolein ACS Nano [Image: see text] Colloidal crystals with a diamond and pyrochlore structure display wide photonic band gaps at low refractive index contrasts. However, these low-coordinated and open structures are notoriously difficult to self-assemble from colloids interacting with simple pair interactions. To circumvent these problems, one can self-assemble both structures in a closely packed MgCu(2) Laves phase from a binary mixture of colloidal spheres and then selectively remove one of the sublattices. Although Laves phases have been proven to be stable in a binary hard-sphere system, they have never been observed to spontaneously crystallize in such a fluid mixture in simulations nor in experiments of micron-sized hard spheres due to slow dynamics. Here we demonstrate, using computer simulations, that softness in the interparticle potential suppresses the degree of 5-fold symmetry in the binary fluid phase and enhances crystallization of Laves phases in nearly hard spheres. American Chemical Society 2020-04-06 2020-04-28 /pmc/articles/PMC7199208/ /pubmed/32250589 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b07090 Text en Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial No Derivative Works (CC-BY-NC-ND) Attribution License (http://pubs.acs.org/page/policy/authorchoice_ccbyncnd_termsofuse.html) , which permits copying and redistribution of the article, and creation of adaptations, all for non-commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Dasgupta, Tonnishtha
Coli, Gabriele M.
Dijkstra, Marjolein
Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title_full Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title_fullStr Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title_full_unstemmed Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title_short Tuning the Glass Transition: Enhanced Crystallization of the Laves Phases in Nearly Hard Spheres
title_sort tuning the glass transition: enhanced crystallization of the laves phases in nearly hard spheres
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7199208/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32250589
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b07090
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