Related papers: Metallization of colloidal crystals
Targeting specific technological applications requires the control of nanoparticle properties, especially the crystalline polymorph. Freezing a nanodroplet deposited on a solid substrate leads to the formation of crystalline structures. We…
Bitter decoration and magneto-optical studies reveal that in heavy-ion irradiated superconductors, a 'porous' vortex matter is formed when vortices outnumber columnar defects (CDs). In this state ordered vortex crystallites are embedded in…
The synthesis of binary nanocrystal superlattices (BNSLs) enables the targeted integration of orthogonal physical properties, like photoluminescence and magnetism, into a single superstructure, unlocking a vast design space for…
We study the coalescence of nanoscale metal clusters in an inert-gas atmosphere using constant-energy molecular dynamics. The coalescence proceeds via atomic diffusion with the release of surface energy raising the temperature. If the…
We study the self-assembly of magnetic colloids using the Stockmayer (SM) model characterized by short-range Lennard-Jones interactions and long-range dipole-dipole interactions. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we design cooling…
The crystallization of complex, concentrated alloys can result in atomic-level short-range order, composition gradients, and phase separation. These features govern the properties of the resulting alloy. While nucleation and growth in…
Intercalation materials are promising candidates for reversible energy storage and are, for example, used as lithium-battery electrodes, hydrogen-storage compounds, and electrochromic materials. An important issue preventing the more…
Using molecular dynamics simulation we examine changeovers among crystal, glass, and liquid at high density in a two dimensional binary mixture. We change the ratio between the diameters of the two components and the temperature. The…
Understanding the out-of equilibrium behaviour of point defects in crystals, yields insights into the nature and fragility of the ordered state, as well as being of great practical importance. In some rare cases defects are spontaneously…
Designing and fabricating self-assembled open colloidal crystals have become one major direction in soft matter community because of many promising applications associated with open colloidal crystals. However, most of the self-assembled…
Volatility-dependent fractionation of the rock-forming elements at high temperatures is an early, widespread process during formation of the earliest solids in protoplanetary disks. Equilibrium condensation calculations allow prediction of…
Via mechanisms not accessible at equilibrium, self-propelled particles can form phases with positional order, such as crystals, and with orientational order, such as polar flocks. However, the interplay between these two types of order…
Self-assembly of colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) into superlattices (SLs) is an appealing strategy to design hierarchically organized materials with new functionalities. Mechanistic studies are still needed to uncover the design principles for…
We explore the relative role of small-scale fragmentation and global collapse in low-metallicity clouds, pointing out that in such clouds the cooling time may be longer than the dynamical time, allowing the cloud to collapse globally before…
We present a detailed molecular-dynamics study of the melting, freezing, and coalescence of gold nanoclusters within the framework of the embedded-atom method. Concerning melting, we find the process to first affect the surface…
Based on classical concept, solidification of alloys is a direct transition from liquid phase to solid phase, by which dendrites and dendritic segregation are produced. Through in-situ and real time morphology observation and XRD test…
Nucleation is an activated process in which the system has to overcome a free energy barrier in order for a first-order phase transition between the metastable and the stable phases to take place. In the liquid-to-solid transition the…
It is demonstrated by analyzing real examples that phase transitions in layered crystals occur like all other solid-state phase transitions by nucleation and crystal growth, but have a specific morphology. There the nucleation is epitaxial,…
We address finite crystallization in two dimensions in the presence of a flat crystalline substrate. Particles interact through short-range two- and three-body potentials favoring local square-lattice arrangements. An additional interaction…
For the study of crystal formation and dynamics we introduce a simple two-dimensional monatomic model system with a parametrized interaction potential. We find in molecular dynamics simulations that a surprising variety of crystals, a…