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We study low-salt, binary aqueous suspensions of charged colloidal spheres of size ratio Phi = 0.57, number densities below the eutectic number density n_E, and number fractions of p = 1.00-0.40. The typical phase obtained by solidification…
Physical properties of colloidal materials can be modified by addition of nanoparticles. Within a model of like-charged mixtures of particles governed by effective electrostatic interactions, we explore the influence of charged…
We model charged colloidal suspensions using an analogy with foams. We study the solid--solid phase transitions of these systems as a function of particle volume-fraction and ionic strength. The screened Coulomb interaction is replaced by…
Charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions display a rich variety of microstructural and thermodynamic properties, which are determined by electro-steric interactions between all ionic species. The large size asymmetry between molecular-scale…
We study the sedimentation of colloidal gels by using a combination of light scattering, polarimetry and video imaging. The asymptotic concentration profiles $\varphi(z,t\rightarrow \infty)$ exhibit remarkable scaling properties: profiles…
We study the phase behaviour of a two-dimensionally confined hard sphere colloidal system in the presence of a periodic light field of two interfering laser beams using Monte Carlo simulations. For a given packing fraction of the particles,…
In experimental systems, colloidal particles are virtually always at least somewhat polydisperse, which can have profound effects on their ability to crystallize. Unfortunately, accurately predicting the effects of polydispersity on phase…
Recent studies on confined crystals of charged colloidal particles are reviewed, both in equilibrium and out of equilibrium. We focus in particular on direct comparisons of experiments (light scattering and microscopy) with lattice sum…
A systematic experimental study of dispersions of charged colloidal spheres is presented on the effect of steady shear flow on nucleation and crystal-growth rates. In addition, the non-equilibrium phase diagram as far as the melting line is…
We introduce a renormalized Jellium model to calculate the equation of state for charged colloidal suspensions. An almost perfect agreement with Monte Carlo simulations is found. Our self-consistent approach naturally allows to define the…
The crystallization of proteins or colloids is often hindered by the appearance of aggregates of low fractal dimension called gels. Here we study the effect of electrostatics upon crystal and gel formation using an analytic model of hard…
Using grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the impact of charged walls on the crystallization properties of charged colloidal suspensions confined between these walls. The investigations are based on an effective model…
We study a two-dimensional model for a long cylindrical stiff charged macroion immersed in a charge-asymmetric electrolyte with charge ratio +2/-1. The model is integrable and it allows an exact analytical determination of the effective…
We investigate shear-induced crystallization in a very dense flow of mono-disperse inelastic hard spheres. We consider a steady plane Couette flow under constant pressure and neglect gravity. We assume that the granular density is greater…
We induce and investigate the coarsening and melting dynamics of an initially static nanoparticle colloidal monolayer at an ionic liquid-vacuum interface, driven by a focused, scanning electron beam. Coarsening occurs through grain…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of a simplified two-dimensional model for colloidal hard spheres in an external uniaxial AC electric field. Experimentally, the external field induces dipole moments in the colloidal particles, which in…
Charged colloidal particles can self-assemble into gel networks upon screening of electrostatic repulsion by added salt. While gelation of spherical colloids has been extensively studied, much less is known about the gelation dynamics of…
We study the phase diagram of a binary mixture of patchy particles which has been designed to form a reversible gel. For this we perform Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the thermodynamics of such a system and…
The phase behavior of colloidal particles embedded in a binary fluid is influenced by wetting layers surrounding each particle. The free energy of the fluid film depends on its morphology, i.e., on size, shape and connectivity. Under rather…
A highly-charged spherical colloid in a salt-free environment exerts such a powerful attraction on its counterions that a certain fraction condenses onto the surface of a particle. The degree of condensation depends on the curvature of the…