Role of diffusion in crystallization of hard-sphere colloids

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2021

Abstract

Vital for a variety of industries, colloids also serve as an excellent model to probe phase transitions at the individual particle level. Despite extensive studies, origins of the glass transition in hard-sphere colloids discovered about 30 y ago remain elusive. Results of our numerical simulations and asymptotic analysis suggest that cessation of long-time particle diffusivity does not suppress crystallization of a metastable liquid-phase hard-sphere colloid. Once a crystallite forms, its growth is then controlled by the particle diffusion in the depletion zone surrounding the crystallite. Using simulations, we evaluate the solid-liquid interface mobility from data on colloidal crystallization in terrestrial and microgravity experiments and demonstrate that there is no drastic difference between the respective mobility values. The insight into the effect of vanishing particle mobility and particle sedimentation on crystallization of colloids will help engineer colloidal materials with controllable structure.

Identifier

85119957278 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Physical Review E

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.104.054607

e-ISSN

24700053

ISSN

24700045

PubMed ID

34942784

Issue

5

Volume

104

Grant

80GRC020D0003

Fund Ref

National Science Foundation

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS