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Pattern formation in two-dimensional hard-core/soft-shell systems with variable soft shell profiles

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posted on 2020-03-16, 11:20 authored by Walter RC Somerville, Adam D Law, Marcel Rey, Nicolas Vogel, Andrew ArcherAndrew Archer, D Martin A Buzza
Hard-core/soft shell (HCSS) particles have been shown to self-assemble into a remarkably rich variety of structures under compression due to the simple interplay between the hard-core and soft-shoulder length scales in their interactions. Most studies in this area model the soft shell interaction as a square shoulder potential. Although appealing from a theoretical point of view, the potential is physically unrealistic because there is no repulsive force in the soft shell regime, unlike in experimental HCSS systems. To make the model more realistic, here we consider HCSS particles with a range soft shell potential profiles beyond the standard square shoulder form and study the model using both minimum energy calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. We find that by tuning density and the soft shell profile, HCSS particles in the thin shell regime (i.e., shell to core ratio $r_1/r_0 \leq \sqrt{3}$) can form a large range of structures, including hexagons, chains, squares, rhomboids and two distinct zig-zag structures. Furthermore, by tuning the density and $r_1/r_0$, we find that HCSS particles with experimentally realistic linear ramp soft shoulder repulsions can form honeycombs and quasicrystals with 10-fold and 12-fold symmetry. Our study therefore suggests the exciting possibility of fabricating these exotic 2D structures experimentally through colloidal self-assembly.

Funding

EPSRC (Grant number EP/L025078/1)

European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 861950, project POSEIDON

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (grant number VO 1824/6-1)

EPSRC (Grant number EP/P015689/1 Quasicrystals: how and why do they form?).

History

School

  • Science

Department

  • Mathematical Sciences

Published in

Soft Matter

Volume

16

Issue

14

Pages

3564 - 3573

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Rights holder

© The Royal Society of Chemistry

Publisher statement

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Soft Matter and the definitive published version is available https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SM00092B

Acceptance date

2020-03-10

Publication date

2020-03-11

Copyright date

2020

Notes

12 pages, 7 figures

ISSN

1744-683X

eISSN

1744-6848

Language

  • en

Depositor

Prof Andrew Archer. Deposit date: 14 March 2020

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