Related papers: Soap Froths and Crystal Structures
The complex physics of self-assembly in colloidal crystals on deformable interfaces and surfaces poses interesting possibilities for the designability and synthesis of next-generation metamaterials. The goal of this article is to…
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…
Soft particles such as microgels and core-shell particles can undergo significant and anisotropic deformations when adsorbed to a liquid interface. This, in turn, leads to a complex phase behavior upon compression. Here we develop a…
Connecting the collective behavior of disordered systems with local structure on the particle scale is an important challenge, for example in granular and glassy systems. Compounding complexity, in many scientific and industrial…
Microgels are soft colloidal particles that, when dispersed in a solvent, swell and deswell in response to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, concentration, and $p$H. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we model bulk…
Classical hard spheres crystallize at equilibrium at high enough density. Crystals made up of stackings of 2-dimensional hexagonal close-packed layers (e.g. fcc, hcp, etc.) differ in entropy by only about $10^{-3}k_B$ per sphere (all…
We investigate crystalline order on a two-dimensional paraboloid of revolution by assembling a single layer of millimeter-sized soap bubbles on the surface of a rotating liquid, thus extending the classic work of Bragg and Nye on planar…
A characteristic property of many soft matter systems is an ultrasoft effective interaction between their structural units. This softness often leads to complex behavior. In particular, ultrasoft systems under pressure demonstrate…
We present a unifying theory for the observed complex structures of the sp-bonded elements under pressure based on nearly free electron picture (NFE). In the intermediate pressure regime the dominant contribution to crystal structure arises…
The structure of the densest crystal packings is determined for a variety of concave shapes in 2D constructed by the overlap of two or three disks. The maximum contact number per particle pair is defined and proposed as a useful means of…
A two-dimensional system of soft particles interacting via a two-length-scale potential is studied. Density functional theory and Brownian dynamics simulations reveal a fluid phase and two crystalline phases with different lattice spacing.…
Solitons in liquid crystals are spatially localised stable configuration of the liquid crystal orientational order parameter that exhibit emergent particle-like properties such as mutual interaction, translational motion and reconfigurable…
Complex colloidal cluster morphologies are desirable for the fabrication of advanced materials, such as photonic crystals and meta-materials, and can be formed through evaporation-driven packing. By coupling lattice Boltzmann and discrete…
We demonstrate a variety of ordered patterns, including hexagonal structures and chains, formed by colloidal particles (droplets) at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). The surface placement introduces a new type of particle…
Unlike molecular crystals, soft self-assembled fibres, micelles, vesicles, etc., exhibit a certain order in the arrangement of their constitutive monomers, but also high structural dynamicity and variability. Defects and disordered local…
We investigated the equilibrium properties of a one-dimensional system of classical particles which interact in pairs through a bounded repulsive potential with a Gaussian shape. Notwithstanding the absence of a proper fluid-solid phase…
Recent years have seen a large increase in the number of reported framework materials, including the nowadays-ubiquitous metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Many of these materials show flexibility and stimuli-responsiveness, i.e. their…
Colloids are abundant in nature, science and technology, with examples ranging from milk to quantum dots and the "colloidal atom" paradigm. Similarly, liquid crystal ordering is important in contexts ranging from biological membranes to…
We investigate the spatial correlations of microscopic stresses in soft particulate gels, using 2D and 3D numerical simulations. We use a recently developed theoretical framework predicting the analytical form of stress-stress correlations…
Deposition of particles while flowing past constrictions is a ubiquitous phenomenon observed in diverse systems. Some common examples are jamming of salt crystals near the orifice of saltshakers, clogging of filter systems, gridlock in…