Phase Behavior of Bowl-Shaped Colloids : Order and Dynamics in Plastic Crystals and Glasses
(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)
- author
- Meijer, Janne Mieke LU and Crassous, Jérôme J. LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2018-08-15
- 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
-
- scopus:85052662280
- pmid:30112837
- 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
- 2025-10-14 09:07:45
@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}},
}