Related papers: Porous crystals in charged sphere suspensions by a…
It has been experimentally established in numerous cases that precipitation of monodispersed colloids from homogeneous solutions is a complex process. Specifically, it was found that in many systems nuclei, produced rapidly in a…
We show that colloidal molecular crystal states interacting with a periodic substrate, such as an optical trap array, and a rotating external field can undergo a rapid pattern switching in which the orientation of the crystal changes. In…
We report a molecular-dynamics simulation of a single-component system of particles interacting via a spherically symmetric potential that is found to form, upon cooling from a liquid state, a low-density porous crystalline phase. Its…
Control of physical behaviors of nematic colloids and colloidal crystals has been demonstrated by tuning particle shape, topology, chirality and surface charging. However, the capability of altering physical behaviors of such soft matter…
According to classical nucleation theory, a crystal grows from a small nucleus that already bears the symmetry of its end phase - but experiments with colloids now reveal that, from an amorphous precursor, crystallites with different…
The motility-induced phase separation exhibited by active particles with repulsive interactions is well known. We show that the interaction softness of active particles destabilizes the highly ordered dense phase, leading to the formation…
Cholesteric liquid crystals can exhibit spatial patterns in molecular alignment at interfaces that can be exploited for particle assembly. These patterns emerge from the competition between bulk and surface energies, tunable with the system…
Phase equilibria between regions of different thickness in thin liquid films stabilized by colloidal particles are investigated using a quasi-two-dimensional thermodynamic formalism. Appropriate equilibrium conditions for the film tension,…
Two-dimensional crystals on curved manifolds exhibit nontrivial defect structures. Here, we consider "active crystals" on a sphere, which are composed of self-propelled colloidal particles. Our work is based on a new…
We review recent work on the phase behaviour of binary charged sphere mixtures as a function of particle concentration and composition. Both size ratios and charge ratios are varied over a wide range. By contrast to hard spheres the long…
The competition between thermal fluctuations and potential forces is the foundation of our understanding of phase transitions and matter in equilibrium. Driving matter out of equilibrium allows for a new class of interactions which are…
Diverse processes -- e.g., environmental pollution, groundwater remediation, oil recovery, filtration, and drug delivery -- involve the transport of colloidal particles in porous media. Using confocal microscopy, we directly visualize this…
Depending on the volume fraction and interparticle interactions, colloidal suspensions can form different phases, ranging from fluids, crystals, and glasses to gels. For soft microgels that are made from thermoresponsive polymers, the…
Gas hydrates grown at gas-ice interfaces are examined by electron microscopy and found to have a submicron porous texture. Permeability of the intervening hydrate layers provides the connection between the two counterparts (gas and water…
We consider homogeneous crystallisation rates in confocal microscopy experiments on colloidal nearly hard spheres at the single particle level. These we compare with Brownian dynamics simuations by carefully modelling the softness in the…
We report on a large scale computer simulation study of crystal nucleation in hard spheres. Through a combined analysis of real and reciprocal space data, a picture of a two-step crystallization process is supported: First dense, amorphous…
The newly developed "void expansion method" allows for an efficient generation of porous packings of spherical particles over a wide range of volume fractions using the discrete element method. Particles are randomly placed under addition…
Colloidal particles trapped at an interface between two fluids can form a wide range of different structures. Replacing one of the fluid with a liquid crystal increases the complexity of interactions and results in a greater range of…
Experiments of periodically sheared colloidal suspensions or soft amorphous solids display a transition from reversible to irreversible particle motion that, when analysed stroboscopically in time, is interpreted as an absorbing phase…
Motivated by the experimental ability to produce monodisperse particles in microfluidic devices, we study theoretically the hydrodynamic stability of driven and active crystals. We first recall the theoretical tools allowing to quantify the…