Observation of two-step melting on a sphere

Author:

Singh Navneet1ORCID,Sood A. K.23ORCID,Ganapathy Rajesh34ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064, India

2. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India

3. International Centre for Materials Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064, India

4. School of Advanced Materials, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore 560064, India

Abstract

Melting in two-dimensional flat space is typically two-step and via the hexatic phase. How melting proceeds on a curved surface, however, is not known. Topology mandates that crystalline particle assemblies on these surfaces harbor a finite density of defects, which itself can be ordered, like the icosahedral ordering of 5-coordinated disclination defects on a sphere. Thus, melting even on a sphere, the simplest closed surface, involves the loss of both crystalline and defect order. Probing the interplay of these two forms of order, however, requires a system in which melting can be performed in situ, and this has not been achieved hitherto. Here, by tuning interparticle interactions in situ, we report an observation of an intermediate hexatic phase during the melting of colloidal crystals on a sphere. Remarkably, we observed a precipitous drop in icosahedral defect order in the hexatic phase where the shear modulus is expected to vanish. Furthermore, unlike in flat space, where disorder can fundamentally alter the nature of the melting process, on the sphere, we observed the signature characteristics of ideal melting. Our findings have profound implications for understanding, for instance, the self-assembly and maturation dynamics of viral capsids and also phase transitions on curved surfaces.

Funder

Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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