Ring formation in the quasi-two-dimensional system of the patchy magnetic spheres.

ABSTRACT

Fabricating new functional materials has always been at the center of colloidal science, and how to form circular rings is a meaningful challenge due to their special electronic, magnetic and optical properties. Magnetic colloidal spheres can self-assemble into rings, but these rings have an uncontrollable length and shape and also have to coexist with chains and defected clusters. To make the most of magnetic spheres being able to self-assemble into rings, a patch is added to the surface of the sphere to form a chiral link between particles. The structural transition in the system of patchy magnetic spheres is studied using the Monte Carlo simulation. When the patch angle is in the interval 60° to 75°, rings become the dominant structure if the strength of patchy interaction exceeds a particular threshold and the shape of these rings is close to the circle. With an increase in the patch angle, the threshold of patchy interaction decreases and the average length of the circular ring increases approximately from 5 to 8.5.