Optimal packings of superballs

Geometrical impacts of platonic particles on nematic liquid crystal dynamics

Platonic-solid-like particles in liquid crystals offer intriguing opportunities for engineering complex materials with tailored properties. Inspired by platonic solids' geometric simplicity and symmetry, these particles possess well-defined shapes such as cubes, tetrahedra, octahedra, dodecahedra, and icosahedra. When dispersed within nematic liquid-crystalline media, these particles interact with the surrounding medium in intricate ways, influencing the local orientational order of liquid crystal molecules. In this work, we implement continuum simulations to study how the combination of particle shape and surface anchoring gives rise to line defects that follow the edges of the particles and how they are affected by the presence of a Poiseuille flow. Platonic-solid-like particles in liquid crystals have shown promise in diverse applications ranging from photonics and metamaterials to colloidal self-assembly and responsive soft materials.

Directed assembly of small binary clusters of magnetizable ellipsoids

We report the effect of shape anisotropy and material properties on the directed assembly of binary suspensions composed of magnetizable ellipsoids. In a Monte Carlo simulation, we implement the ellipsoid-dipole model to calculate the pairwise dipolar interaction energy as a function of position and orientation. The analysis explores dilute suspensions of paramagnetic and diamagnetic ellipsoids with different aspect ratios in a superparamagnetic medium. We analyze the local order of binary structures as a function of particle aspect ratio, medium permeability, and dipolar interaction strength. Our results show that local order and symmetry are tunable under the influence of a uniform magnetic field when one component of the structure is dilute with respect to the other. The simulation results match previously reported experiments on the directed assembly of binary suspension of spheres. Additionally, we report the conditions on particle aspect ratios and medium properties for various structures with rotational symmetries, as well as open and enclosed structures under the influence of a uniform magnetic field.

Spheroid models to elaborate the broken symmetry and equivalent volume of molecules in crystalline phase

Dense packing of particles has provided powerful models to elaborate the important structural features of matter in various systems such as liquid, glassy, and crystalline phases. The simplest sphere packing models can represent and capture salient properties of the building blocks for covalent, metallic, and ionic crystals; it, however, becomes insufficient to reflect the broken symmetry of the commonly anisotropic molecules in molecular crystals. Here, we develop spheroid models with a minimal degree of anisotropy, which serve as a simple geometrical representation for a rich spectrum of molecules-including both isotropic and anisotropic, convex and concave ones-in crystalline phases. Our models are determined via an inverse packing approach: Given a molecular crystal, an optimal spheroid model is constructed using a contact diagram, which depicts the packing relationship between neighboring molecules within the crystal. The spheroid models are capable of accurately capturing the broken symmetry and characterizing the equivalent volume of molecules in the crystalline phases. Moreover, our model retrieves such molecular information from low-quality x-ray diffraction data with poorly resolved structures, and by using soft spheroids, it can also describe the packing behavior in cocrystals.

Geometric cohesion in two-dimensional systems composed of star-shaped particles

Using a discrete element method, we investigate the phenomenon of geometric cohesion in granular systems composed of star-shaped particles with 3 to 13 arms. This was done by analyzing the stability of columns built with these particles and by studying the microstructure of these columns in terms of density and connectivity. We find that systems composed of star-shaped particles can exhibit geometric cohesion (i.e., a solidlike behavior, in the absence of adhesive forces between the grains), depending on the shape of the particles and the friction between them. This phenomenon is observed up to a given critical size of the system, from which a transition to a metastable behavior takes place. We also have evidence that geometric cohesion is closely linked to the systems' connectivity and especially to the capability of forming interlocked interactions (i.e., multicontact interactions that hinder the relative rotation of the grains). Our results contribute to the understanding of the interesting and potentially useful phenomenon of geometric cohesion. In addition, our work supplements an important set of experimental observations and sheds light on the complex behavior of real, three-dimensional, granular systems.

Voronoi Tessellations and the Shannon Entropy of the Pentagonal Tilings

We used the complete set of convex pentagons to enable filing the plane without any overlaps or gaps (including the Marjorie Rice tiles) as generators of Voronoi tessellations. Shannon entropy of the tessellations was calculated. Some of the basic mosaics are flexible and give rise to a diversity of Voronoi tessellations. The Shannon entropy of these tessellations varied in a broad range. Voronoi tessellation, emerging from the basic pentagonal tiling built from hexagons only, was revealed (the Shannon entropy of this tiling is zero). Decagons and hendecagon did not appear in the studied Voronoi diagrams. The most abundant Voronoi tessellations are built from three different kinds of polygons. The most widespread is the combination of pentagons, hexagons, and heptagons. The most abundant polygons are pentagons and hexagons. No Voronoi tiling built only of pentagons was registered. Flexible basic pentagonal mosaics give rise to a diversity of Voronoi tessellations, which are characterized by the same symmetry group. However, the coordination number of the vertices is variable. These Voronoi tessellations may be useful for the interpretation of the iso-symmetrical phase transitions.

Shape and interaction decoupling for colloidal preassembly

Creating materials with structure that is independently controllable at a range of scales requires breaking naturally occurring hierarchies. Breaking these hierarchies can be achieved via the decoupling of building block attributes from structure during assembly. Here, we demonstrate, through computer simulations and experiments, that shape and interaction decoupling occur in colloidal cuboids suspended in evaporating emulsion droplets. The resulting colloidal clusters serve as "preassembled" mesoscale building blocks for larger-scale structures. We show that clusters of up to nine particles form mesoscale building blocks with geometries that are independent of the particles' degree of faceting and dipolar magnetic interactions. To highlight the potential of these superball clusters for hierarchical assembly, we demonstrate, using computer simulations, that clusters of six to nine particles can assemble into high-order structures that differ from bulk self-assembly of individual particles. Our results suggest that preassembled building blocks present a viable route to hierarchical materials design.

SARS-CoV-2 Detection using Colorimetric Plasmonic Sensors: A Proof-of-Concept Computational Study

Traditional molecular techniques for SARS-CoV-2 viral detection are time-consuming and can exhibit a high probability of false negatives. In this work, we present a computational study of SARS-CoV-2 detection using plasmonic gold nanoparticles. The resonance wavelength of a SARS-CoV-2 virus was recently estimated to be in the near-infrared region. By engineering gold nanospheres to specifically bind with the outer surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the resonance frequency can be shifted to the visible range (380 nm - 700 nm). Moreover, we show that broadband absorption will emerge in the visible spectrum when the virus is partially covered with gold nanoparticles at a specific coverage percentage. This broadband absorption can be used to guide the development of an efficient and accurate colorimetric plasmon sensor for COVID-19 detection. Our observation also suggests that this technique is unaffected by the number of protein spikes present on the virus outer surface, hence can pave a potential path for a label-free COVID-19 diagnostic tool independent of the number of protein spikes.

Classifying Crystals of Rounded Tetrahedra and Determining Their Order Parameters Using Dimensionality Reduction

Using simulations we study the phase behavior of a family of hard spherotetrahedra, a shape that interpolates between tetrahedra and spheres. We identify 13 close-packed structures, some with packings that are significantly denser than previously reported. Twelve of these are crystals with unit cells of N = 2 or N = 4 particles, but in the shape regime of slightly rounded tetrahedra we find that the densest structure is a quasicrystal approximant with a unit cell of N = 82 particles. All 13 structures are also stable below close packing, together with an additional 14th plastic crystal phase at the sphere side of the phase diagram, and upon sufficient dilution to packing fractions below 50-60% all structures melt. Interestingly, however, upon compressing the fluid phase, self-assembly takes place spontaneously only at the tetrahedron and the sphere side of the family but not in an intermediate regime of tetrahedra with rounded edges. We describe the local environment of each particle by a set of l-fold bond orientational order parameters q̅l, which we use in an extensive principal component analysis. We find that the total packing fraction as well as several particular linear combinations of q̅l rather than individual q̅l's are optimally distinctive, specifically the differences q̅4 - q̅6 for separating tetragonal from hexagonal structures and q̅4-q̅8 for distinguishing tetragonal structures. We argue that these characteristic combinations are also useful as reliable order parameters in nucleation studies, enhanced sampling techniques, or inverse-design methods involving odd-shaped particles in general.

Scattering from colloidal cubic silica shells: Part II, static structure factors and osmotic equation of state

HYPOTHESIS

The shape of colloidal particles affects the structure of colloidal dispersions. The effect of the cube shape on the thermodynamics of colloidal cube dispersions has not yet been studied experimentally. Static light scattering measurements on colloidal cubic silica shells at finite concentrations allows us to measure the structure factor of colloidal cube fluids and to test theoretical predictions for the equation of state of hard convex superballs.

EXPERIMENTS

Hollow silica nanocubes of varying concentrations in N,N,-dimethylformamide were studied with static light scattering. The structure factor was extracted from the scattering curves using experimental form factors. From this experimental structure factor, the specific density of the particles, and the osmotic compressibility were obtained. This osmotic compressibility was then compared to a theoretical equation of state of hard superballs.

FINDINGS

The first experimental structure factors of a stable cube fluid are presented. The osmotic compressibility of the cube fluid can be described by the equation of state of a hard superball fluid, showing that silica cubes in N,N,-dimethylformamide with LiCl effectively interact as hard particles.

Hard convex lens-shaped particles: Characterization of dense disordered packings

Among the family of hard convex lens-shaped particles (lenses), the one with aspect ratio equal to 2/3 is "optimal" in the sense that the maximally random jammed (MRJ) packings of such lenses achieve the highest packing fraction ϕ_{MRJ}≃0.73 [G. Cinacchi and S. Torquato, Soft Matter 14, 8205 (2018)1744-683X10.1039/C8SM01519H]. This value is only a few percent lower than ϕ_{DKP}=0.76210⋯, the packing fraction of the corresponding densest-known crystalline (degenerate) packings [G. Cinacchi and S. Torquato, J. Chem. Phys. 143, 224506 (2015)JCPSA60021-960610.1063/1.4936938]. By exploiting the appreciably reduced propensity that a system of such optimal lenses has to positionally and orientationally order, disordered packings of them are progressively generated by a Monte Carlo method-based procedure from the dilute equilibrium isotropic fluid phase to the dense nonequilibrium MRJ state. This allows us to closely monitor how the (micro)structure of these packings changes in the process of formation of the MRJ state. The gradual changes undergone by the many structural descriptors calculated here can coherently and consistently be traced back to the gradual increase in contacts between the hard particles until the isostatic mean value of ten contact neighbors per lens is reached at the effectively hyperuniform MRJ state. Compared to the MRJ state of hard spheres, the MRJ state of such optimal lenses is denser (less porous), more disordered, and rattler-free. This set of characteristics makes them good glass formers. It is possible that this conclusion may also hold for other hard convex uniaxial particles with a correspondingly similar aspect ratio, be they oblate or prolate, and that, by using suitable biaxial variants of them, that set of characteristics might further improve.

Morphology and kinetics of random sequential adsorption of superballs: From hexapods to cubes

Superballs represent a class of particles whose shapes are defined by the domain |x|^{2p}+|y|^{2p}+|z|^{2p}≤R^{2p}, with p∈(0,∞) being the deformation parameter. 0<p<0.5 represents a family of hexapodlike (concave octahedral-like) particles, 0.5≤p<1 and p>1 represent, respectively, families of convex octahedral-like and cubelike particles, with p=1,0.5, and ∞ representing spheres, octahedra, and cubes. Colloidal zeolite suspensions, catalysis, and adsorption, as well as biomedical magnetic nanoparticles are but a few of the applications of packing of superballs. We introduce a universal method for simulating random sequential adsorption of superballs, which we refer to as the low-entropy algorithm, which is about two orders of magnitude faster than the conventional algorithms that represent high-entropy methods. The two algorithms yield, respectively, precise estimates of the jamming fraction ϕ_{∞}(p) and ν(p), the exponent that characterizes the kinetics of adsorption at long times t, ϕ_{∞}(p)-ϕ(p,t)∼t^{-ν(p)}. Precise estimates of ϕ_{∞}(p) and ν(p) are obtained and shown to be in agreement with the existing analytical and numerical results for certain types of superballs.

Densest versus jammed packings of bent-core trimers

We identify putatively maximally dense packings of tangent-sphere trimers with fixed bond angles (θ=θ_{0}), and contrast them to the disordered jammed states they form under quasistatic and dynamic athermal compression. Incommensurability of θ_{0} with three-dimensional (3D) close packing does not by itself inhibit formation of dense 3D crystals; all θ_{0} allow formation of crystals with ϕ_{max}(θ_{0})>0.97ϕ_{cp}. Trimers are always able to arrange into periodic structures composed of close-packed bilayers or trilayers of triangular-lattice planes, separated by "gap layers" that accommodate the incommensurability. All systems have ϕ_{J} significantly below the monomeric value, indicating that trimers' quenched bond-length and bond-angle constraints always act to promote jamming. ϕ_{J} varies strongly with θ_{0}; straight (θ_{0}=0) trimers minimize ϕ_{J} while closed (θ_{0}=120^{∘}) trimers maximize it. Marginally jammed states of trimers with lower ϕ_{J}(θ_{0}) exhibit quantifiably greater disorder, and the lower ϕ_{J} for small θ_{0} is apparently caused by trimers' decreasing effective configurational freedom as they approach linearity.

Convectively Assembled Monolayers of Colloidal Cubes: Evidence of Optimal Packings

We employ a system of cubic colloids with rounded corners to study the close-packed monolayers that form via convective assembly. We show that by controlled solvent evaporation large densely packed monolayers of colloidal cubes are obtained. Using scanning electron microscopy and particle-tracking algorithms, we investigate the local order in detail and show that the obtained monolayers possess their predicted close-packed optimal packings, the Λ₀-lattice and the Λ₁-lattice, as well as the simple square-lattice and disordered packings. We further show that shape details of the cube corners are important for the final packing symmetry, where the frequency of the Λ₁-lattice increases with decreasing roundness of the corners, whereas the frequency of the Λ₀-lattice is unaffected. The formation of both optimal packings is found to be a consequence of the out-of-equilibrium formation process, which leads to small shifts in rows of cubes, thereby transforming the Λ₁-lattice into the Λ₀-lattice.

Continuum percolation-based tortuosity and thermal conductivity of soft superball systems: shape dependence from octahedra via spheres to cubes

Understanding the effect of particle shape on the percolation threshold, tortuosity and thermal conductivity of soft (geometrical overlapping) particle systems is very crucial for the design and optimization of such materials, including colloids, polymers, and porous and fracture media. In this work, we first combine the excluded-volume theory with the Monte Carlo simulations to determine the percolation threshold for a family of soft superballs, the shape of which interpolates between octahedra and cubes via spheres. Then, we propose two continuum percolation-based models to respectively obtain the tortuosity and effective thermal conductivity of soft superball systems considering their percolation behavior, where monodisperse overlapping superballs are uniformly distributed in a homogeneous solid matrix. Specifically, both models cover the whole feasible range of superball volume fractions, including near the percolation threshold. Comparison with extensive experimental, numerical and theoretical results confirms that the present models are capable of precisely predicting the percolation threshold, tortuosity and thermal conductivity of such systems. Furthermore, we apply the proposed models to probe the influence of particle shape on these important parameters. Our results show that the decreasing percolation threshold and tortuosity as soft particles become more anisotropic is consistent with increasing conductivity. It suggests that the anisotropic-shaped inclusion phase is more conducting than the spherical inclusion phase. The present theoretical strategies and conclusions may provide sound guidance for the synthesis of colloidal and polymer superballs.

Phase behaviour of colloidal superballs mixed with non-adsorbing polymers

Inspired by experimental work on colloidal cuboid-polymer dispersions (Rossi et al., Soft Matter, 7, 4139 (2011)) we have theoretically studied the phase behaviour of such mixtures. To that end, free volume theory (FVT) was applied to predict the phase behaviour of mixtures of superballs and non-adsorbing polymer chains in a common solvent. Closed expressions for the thermodynamic properties of a suspension of hard colloidal superballs have been derived, accounting for fluid (F), face-centred cubic (FCC) and simple cubic (SC) phase states. Even though the considered solid phases are approximate, the hard superballs phase diagram semi-quantitatively matches with more evolved methods. The theory developed for the cuboid-polymer mixture reveals a rich phase behaviour, which includes not only isostructural F₁-F₂ coexistence, but also SC₁-SC₂ coexistence, several triple coexistences, and even a quadruple-phase coexistence region (F₁-F₂-SC-FCC). The model proposed offers a tool to asses the stability of cuboid-polymer mixtures in terms of the colloid-to-polymer size ratio.

Geometrical percolation threshold of congruent cuboidlike particles in overlapping particle systems

With the advances in artificial particle synthesis, it is possible to create particles with unique shapes. Particle shape becomes a feasible parameter for tuning the percolation behavior. How to accurately predict the percolation threshold by particle characteristics for arbitrary particles has aroused great interest. Towards this end, a versatile family of cuboidlike particles and a numerical contact detection algorithm for these particles are presented here. Then, combining with percolation theory, the continuum percolation of randomly distributed overlapping cuboidlike particles is studied. The global percolation threshold ϕ_{c} of overlapping particles with broad ranges of the shape parameter m in [1.0,+∞) and aspect ratio a/b in [0.1, 10.0] is computed via a finite-size scaling technique. Using the generalized excluded-volume approximation, an analytical formula is proposed to quantify the dependence of ϕ_{c} on the parameters m and a/b, and its reliability is verified. The results reveal that the percolation threshold ϕ_{c} of overlapping cuboidlike particles is heavily dependent on the shapes of particles, and much more sensitive to a/b than m. As the cuboidlike particles become spherical (i.e., m=1.0 and a/b=1.0), the maximum threshold ϕ_{c,max} can be obtained.

Interplay between spherical confinement and particle shape on the self-assembly of rounded cubes

Self-assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) inside drying emulsion droplets provides a general strategy for hierarchical structuring of matter at different length scales. The local orientation of neighboring crystalline NPs can be crucial to optimize for instance the optical and electronic properties of the self-assembled superstructures. By integrating experiments and computer simulations, we demonstrate that the orientational correlations of cubic NPs inside drying emulsion droplets are significantly determined by their flat faces. We analyze the rich interplay of positional and orientational order as the particle shape changes from a sharp cube to a rounded cube. Sharp cubes strongly align to form simple-cubic superstructures whereas rounded cubes assemble into icosahedral clusters with additionally strong local orientational correlations. This demonstrates that the interplay between packing, confinement and shape can be utilized to develop new materials with novel properties.

Colloidal nanoparticles self-assembled under spherical confinement can form a rich variety of structures. Here, the authors study the self-assembly of sharp and rounded nanocubes under such confinement, revealing the influence of particle and face geometry on positional and orientational behavior.

Experimental Study of Ordering of Hard Cubes by Shearing

We experimentally analyze the compaction dynamics of an ensemble of cubic particles submitted to a novel type of excitation. Instead of the standard tapping procedure used in granular materials we apply alternative twists to the cylindrical container. Under this agitation, the development of shear forces among the different layers of cubes leads to particle alignment. As a result, the packing fraction grows monotonically with the number of twists. If the intensity of the excitations is sufficiently large, an ordered final state is reached where the volume fraction is the densest possible compatible with the boundary condition. This ordered final state resembles the tetratic or cubatic phases observed in colloids.

Nanoparticle Shape Influences the Magnetic Response of Ferro-Colloids

The interesting magnetic response of conventional ferro-colloid has proved extremely useful in a wide range of technical applications. Furthermore, the use of nano/micro- sized magnetic particles has proliferated cutting-edge medical research, such as drug targeting and hyperthermia. In order to diversify and improve the application of such systems, new avenues of functionality must be explored. Current efforts focus on incorporating directional interactions that are surplus to the intrinsic magnetic one. This additional directionality can be conveniently introduced by considering systems composed of magnetic particles of different shapes. Here we present a combined analytical and simulation study of permanently magnetized dipolar superball particles; a geometry that closely resembles magnetic cubes synthesized in experiments. We have focused on determining the initial magnetic susceptibility of these particles in dilute suspensions, seeking to quantify the effect of the superball shape parameter on the system response. In turn, we linked the computed susceptibilities to the system microstructure by analyzing cluster composition using a connectivity network analysis. Our study has shown that by increasing the shape parameter of these superball particles, one can alter the outcome of self-assembly processes, leading to the observation of an unanticipated decrease in the initial static magnetic susceptibility.

Universality in quasi-two-dimensional granular shock fronts above an intruder

We experimentally study quasi-two-dimensional dilute granular flow around intruders whose shape, size, and relative impact speed are systematically varied. Direct measurement of the flow field reveals that three in-principle independent measurements of the nonuniformity of the flow field are in fact all linearly related: (1) granular temperature, (2) flow-field divergence, and (3) shear-strain rate. The shock front is defined as the local maxima in each of these measurements. The shape of the shock front is well described by an inverted catenary and is driven by the formation of a dynamic arch during steady flow. We find universality in the functional form of the shock front within the range of experimental values probed. Changing the intruder size, concavity, and impact speed only results in a scaling and shifting of the shock front. We independently measure the horizontal lift force on the intruder and find that it can be understood as a result of the interplay between the shock profile and the intruder shape.

Dense crystalline packings of ellipsoids

An ellipsoid, the simplest nonspherical shape, has been extensively used as a model for elongated building blocks for a wide spectrum of molecular, colloidal, and granular systems. Yet the densest packing of congruent hard ellipsoids, which is intimately related to the high-density phase of many condensed matter systems, is still an open problem. We discover an unusual family of dense crystalline packings of self-dual ellipsoids (ratios of the semiaxes α:sqrt[α]:1), containing 24 particles with a quasi-square-triangular (SQ-TR) tiling arrangement in the fundamental cell. The associated packing density ϕ exceeds that of the densest known SM2 crystal [ A. Donev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 255506 (2004)10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.255506] for aspect ratios α in (1.365, 1.5625), attaining a maximal ϕ≈0.75806... at α=93/64. We show that the SQ-TR phase derived from these dense packings is thermodynamically stable at high densities over the aforementioned α range and report a phase diagram for self-dual ellipsoids. The discovery of the SQ-TR crystal suggests organizing principles for nonspherical particles and self-assembly of colloidal systems.

Observation of solid-solid transitions in 3D crystals of colloidal superballs

Self-organization in anisotropic colloidal suspensions leads to a fascinating range of crystal and liquid crystal phases induced by shape alone. Simulations predict the phase behaviour of a plethora of shapes while experimental realization often lags behind. Here, we present the experimental phase behaviour of superball particles with a shape in between that of a sphere and a cube. In particular, we observe the formation of a plastic crystal phase with translational order and orientational disorder, and the subsequent transformation into rhombohedral crystals. Moreover, we uncover that the phase behaviour is richer than predicted, as we find two distinct rhombohedral crystals with different stacking variants, namely hollow-site and bridge-site stacking. In addition, for slightly softer interactions we observe a solid-solid transition between the two. Our investigation brings us one step closer to ultimately controlling the experimental self-assembly of superballs into functional materials, such as photonic crystals.

Depletion-driven crystallization of cubic colloids sedimented on a surface

Cubic colloids, sedimented on a surface and immersed in a solution of depletant molecules, were modeled with a family of shapes which smoothly varies from squares to circles. Using Wang-Landau simulations with expanded ensembles, we observe the formation of rhombic lattices, square lattices, hexagonal lattices, and a fluid phase. This systematic investigation includes locating transitions between all combinations of the three lattice structures upon changing the shape and transitions between the fluid and crystal upon changing the depletant concentration. The rhombic lattice deforms smoothly between square-like and hexagonal-like angles, depending on both the shape and the depletant concentration. Our results on the effect of the depletant concentration, depletant size, and colloid shape to influence the stability of the fluid and the lattice structures may help guide experimental studies with recently synthesized cubic colloids.

The Synthesis of Organic Molecules of Intrinsic Microporosity Designed to Frustrate Efficient Molecular Packing

Efficient reactions between fluorine-functionalised biphenyl and terphenyl derivatives with catechol-functionalised terminal groups provide a route to large, discrete organic molecules of intrinsic microporosity (OMIMs) that provide porous solids solely by their inefficient packing. By altering the size and substituent bulk of the terminal groups, a number of soluble compounds with apparent BET surface areas in excess of 600 m(2)  g(-1) are produced. The efficiency of OMIM structural units for generating microporosity is in the order: propellane>triptycene>hexaphenylbenzene>spirobifluorene>naphthyl=phenyl. The introduction of bulky hydrocarbon substituents significantly enhances microporosity by further reducing packing efficiency. These results are consistent with findings from previously reported packing simulation studies. The introduction of methyl groups at the bridgehead position of triptycene units reduces intrinsic microporosity. This is presumably due to their internal position within the OMIM structure so that they occupy space, but unlike peripheral substituents they do not contribute to the generation of free volume by inefficient packing.

Phase behavior of polyhedral nanoparticles in parallel plate confinement

Monte Carlo simulations are used to investigate the phase behavior of hard cubes, truncated cubes, cuboctahedra and truncated octahedra when confined between two parallel hard walls. The walls are separated by a distance H* which is varied to accommodate a different number of layers, from a monolayer up to approximately 5 layers, hence allowing us to probe the transitional phase behavior as the system goes from a quasi-2D geometry to a quasi-3D bulk behavior. While our results do reveal some phases whose structures resemble those that have been observed before for such systems in 2D and 3D spaces, other phases are also detected, including buckled phases, rotator plastic phases, and solids with significant translational disorder. Ordered phases formed for H* values that are a little too narrow to accommodate an additional particle layer are particularly interesting as they tend to have complex structures. The maximum density for such frustrated phases is low compared to that of non-frustrated ones for the same system at different H*. As the asphericity in the shapes is reduced, the simulated phases show structural features that approach those of the phases that have been reported for hard spheres under similar confinement.

Interplay of particle shape and suspension properties: a study of cube-like particles

With advances in anisotropic particle synthesis, particle shape is now a feasible parameter for tuning suspension properties. However, there is a need to determine how these newly synthesized particles affect suspension properties and a need to solve the inverse problem of inferring the particle shape from property measurements. Either way, accurate suspension property predictions are required. Towards this end, we calculated a set of dilute suspension properties for a family of cube-like particles that smoothly interpolate between spheres and cubes. Using three conceptually different methods, we numerically computed the electrical properties of particle suspensions, including the intrinsic conductivity of perfect conductors and insulators. We also considered hydrodynamic properties relevant to particle solutions including the hydrodynamic radius, the intrinsic viscosity and the intrinsic solvent diffusivity. Additionally, we determined the second osmotic virial coefficient using analytic expressions along with numerical integration. As the particles became more cube-like, we found that all of the properties investigated become more sensitive to particle shape.

Symmetry considerations for the targeted assembly of entropically stabilized colloidal crystals via Voronoi particles

The relationship between colloidal building blocks and their assemblies is an active field of research. As a strategy for targeting novel crystal structures, we examine the use of Voronoi particles, which are hard, space-filling particles in the shape of Voronoi cells of a target structure. Although Voronoi particles stabilize their target structure in the limit of high pressure by construction, the thermodynamic assembly of the same structure at moderate pressure, close to the onset of crystallization, is not guaranteed. Indeed, we find that a more symmetric crystal is often preferred due to additional entropic contributions arising from configurational or occupational degeneracy. We characterize the assembly behavior of the Voronoi particles in terms of the symmetries of the building blocks as well as the symmetries of crystal structures and demonstrate how controlling the degeneracies through a modification of particle shape and field-directed assembly can significantly improve the assembly propensity.

The role of bond tangency and bond gap in hard sphere crystallization of chains

We report results from Monte Carlo simulations on dense packings of linear, freely-jointed chains of hard spheres of uniform size. In contrast to our past studies where bonded spheres along the chain backbone were tangent, in the present work a finite tolerance in the bond is allowed. Bond lengths are allowed to fluctuate in the interval [σ, σ + dl], where σ is the sphere diameter. We find that bond tolerance affects the phase behaviour of hard-sphere chains, especially in the close vicinity of the melting transition. First, a critical dl(crit) exists marking the threshold for crystallization, whose value decreases with increasing volume fraction. Second, bond gaps enhance the onset of phase transition by accelerating crystal nucleation and growth. Finally, bond tolerance has an effect on crystal morphologies: in the tangent limit the majority of structures correspond to stack-faulted random hexagonal close packing (rhcp). However, as bond tolerance increases a wealth of diverse structures can be observed: from single fcc (or hcp) crystallites to random hcp/fcc stackings with multiple directions. By extending the simulations over trillions of MC steps (10(12)) we are able to observe crystal-crystal transitions and perfection even for entangled polymer chains in accordance to the Ostwald's rule of stages in crystal polymorphism. Through simple geometric arguments we explain how the presence of rigid or flexible constraints affects crystallization in general atomic and particulate systems. Based on the present results, it can be concluded that proper tuning of bond gaps and of the connectivity network can be a controlling factor for the phase behaviour of model, polymer-based colloidal and granular systems.

Entropic self-assembly of freely rotating polyhedral particles confined to a flat interface

The self-assembly of hard polyhedral particles confined to a flat interface is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The particles are pinned to the interface by restricting their movement in the direction perpendicular to it while allowing their free rotations. The six different polyhedral shapes studied in this work are selected from a family of truncated cubes defined by a truncation parameter, s, which varies from cubes (s = 0) via cuboctahedra (s = 0.5) to octahedra (s = 1). Our results suggest that shapes with small values of s show square-like behavior whereas shapes with large values of s tend to show more disc-like behavior. At an intermediate value of s = 0.4, the phase behavior of the system shows both square-like and disc-like features. The results are also compared with the phase behavior of 3D bulk polyhedra and of 2D rounded hard squares. Both comparisons reveal key similarities in the number and sequence of mesophases and solid phases observed. These insights on 2D entropic self-assembly of polyhedral particles is a first step toward understanding the self-assembly of particles at fluid-fluid interfaces, which is driven by a complex interplay of entropic and enthalpic forces. A first-order analysis of the particle-surface energies associated with a fluid-fluid interface indicates that such enthalpic interactions will be particularly important in determining particle orientation behavior at low to intermediate concentrations.

Formation and liquid permeability of dense colloidal cube packings

The liquid permeability of dense random packings of cubic colloids with rounded corners is studied for solid hematite cubes and hollow microporous silica cubes. The permeabilities of these two types of packings are similar, confirming that the micropores in the silica shell of the hollow cubes do not contribute to the permeability. From the Brinkman screening length √k of ∼16 nm, we infer that the relevant pores are indeed intercube pores. Furthermore, we relate the permeability to the volume fraction and specific solid volume of the cubes using the Kozeny-Carman relation. The Kozeny-Carman relation contains a constant that accounts for the topology and size distribution of the pores in the medium. The constant obtained from our study with aspherical particles is of the same order of magnitude as those from studies with spherical and ellipsoidal particles, which supports the notion that the Kozeny-Carman relation is applicable for any dense particle packing with (statistically) isotropic microstructures, irrespective of the particle shape.

Heuristic rule for binary superlattice coassembly: mixed plastic mesophases of hard polyhedral nanoparticles

Sought-after ordered structures of mixtures of hard anisotropic nanoparticles can often be thermodynamically unfavorable due to the components' geometric incompatibility to densely pack into regular lattices. A simple compatibilization rule is identified wherein the particle sizes are chosen such that the order-disorder transition pressures of the pure components match (and the entropies of the ordered phases are similar). Using this rule with representative polyhedra from the truncated-cube family that form pure-component plastic crystals, Monte Carlo simulations show the formation of plastic-solid solutions for all compositions and for a wide range of volume fractions.

Dense periodic packings of tori

Dense packings of nonoverlapping bodies in three-dimensional Euclidean space R(3) are useful models of the structure of a variety of many-particle systems that arise in the physical and biological sciences. Here we investigate the packing behavior of congruent ring tori in R(3), which are multiply connected nonconvex bodies of genus 1, as well as horn and spindle tori. Specifically, we analytically construct a family of dense periodic packings of unlinked tori guided by the organizing principles originally devised for simply connected solid bodies [Torquato and Jiao, Phys. Rev. E 86, 011102 (2012)]. We find that the horn tori as well as certain spindle and ring tori can achieve a packing density not only higher than that of spheres (i.e., π/sqrt[18] = 0.7404...) but also higher than the densest known ellipsoid packings (i.e., 0.7707...). In addition, we study dense packings of clusters of pair-linked ring tori (i.e., Hopf links), which can possess much higher densities than corresponding packings consisting of unlinked tori.