Chains of cubic colloids at fluid-fluid interfaces.
Soft Matter
; 17(4): 965-975, 2021 Jan 28.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33284927
ABSTRACT
Inspired by recent experimental observations of spontaneous chain formation of cubic particles adsorbed at a fluid-fluid interface, we theoretically investigate whether capillary interactions can be responsible for this self-assembly process. We calculate adsorption energies, equilibrium particle orientations, and interfacial deformations, not only for a variety of contact angles but also for single cubes as well as an infinite 2D lattice of cubes at the interface. This allows us to construct a ground-state phase diagram as a function of areal density for several contact angles, and upon combining the capillary energy of a 2D lattice with a simple expression for the entropy of a 2D fluid we also construct temperature-density or size-density phase diagrams that exhibit large two-phase regions and triple points. We identify several regimes with stable chainlike structures, in line with the experimental observations.
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MEDLINE
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Ano de publicação:
2021
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Article