Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Phase Behavior of Bowl-Shaped Colloids : Order and Dynamics in Plastic Crystals and Glasses

Meijer, Janne Mieke LU and Crassous, Jérôme J. LU (2018) In Small 14(46).
Abstract

Charged fluorescent bowl-shaped colloids consisting of a polystyrene core surrounded by a poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) shell are obtained by nanoengineering spherical composite microgels. The phase diagram of these soft bowl-shaped colloids interacting through long-range Yukawa-type interactions is investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The bowl-shaped structure leads to marked differences in phase-behavior compared to their spherical counterpart. With increasing number density, a transition from a fluid to a plastic crystal phase, with freely rotating particles, followed by a glass-like state is observed. It is found that the anisotropic bowl shape frustrates crystallization and slows down crystallization kinetics... (More)

Charged fluorescent bowl-shaped colloids consisting of a polystyrene core surrounded by a poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) shell are obtained by nanoengineering spherical composite microgels. The phase diagram of these soft bowl-shaped colloids interacting through long-range Yukawa-type interactions is investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The bowl-shaped structure leads to marked differences in phase-behavior compared to their spherical counterpart. With increasing number density, a transition from a fluid to a plastic crystal phase, with freely rotating particles, followed by a glass-like state is observed. It is found that the anisotropic bowl shape frustrates crystallization and slows down crystallization kinetics and causes the glass-like transition to shift to a significantly lower volume fraction than for the spheres. Quantitative analysis of the positional and orientational order demonstrates that the plastic crystal phase exhibits quasi-long range translational order and orientational disorder, while in the disordered glass-like phase the long-range translational order vanishes and short-range rotational order appears, dictated by the specific bowl shape. It is further shown that the different structural transitions are characterized by decoupling of the translational and orientational dynamics.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
bowl-shaped colloids, Brownian dynamics, glass transition, image analysis, plastic crystal
in
Small
volume
14
issue
46
article number
1802049
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:30112837
  • scopus:85052662280
ISSN
1613-6810
DOI
10.1002/smll.201802049
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
8ca0fac4-ac49-4fe4-92aa-ed07ee888431
date added to LUP
2018-10-05 08:23:28
date last changed
2024-06-10 18:30:09
@article{8ca0fac4-ac49-4fe4-92aa-ed07ee888431,
  abstract     = {{<p>Charged fluorescent bowl-shaped colloids consisting of a polystyrene core surrounded by a poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) shell are obtained by nanoengineering spherical composite microgels. The phase diagram of these soft bowl-shaped colloids interacting through long-range Yukawa-type interactions is investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The bowl-shaped structure leads to marked differences in phase-behavior compared to their spherical counterpart. With increasing number density, a transition from a fluid to a plastic crystal phase, with freely rotating particles, followed by a glass-like state is observed. It is found that the anisotropic bowl shape frustrates crystallization and slows down crystallization kinetics and causes the glass-like transition to shift to a significantly lower volume fraction than for the spheres. Quantitative analysis of the positional and orientational order demonstrates that the plastic crystal phase exhibits quasi-long range translational order and orientational disorder, while in the disordered glass-like phase the long-range translational order vanishes and short-range rotational order appears, dictated by the specific bowl shape. It is further shown that the different structural transitions are characterized by decoupling of the translational and orientational dynamics.</p>}},
  author       = {{Meijer, Janne Mieke and Crassous, Jérôme J.}},
  issn         = {{1613-6810}},
  keywords     = {{bowl-shaped colloids; Brownian dynamics; glass transition; image analysis; plastic crystal}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{46}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Small}},
  title        = {{Phase Behavior of Bowl-Shaped Colloids : Order and Dynamics in Plastic Crystals and Glasses}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201802049}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/smll.201802049}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}