Affiliation:
1. Soft Condensed Matter, Debye Institute of Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
Abstract
We study the nucleation of nearly hard charged colloidal particles. We use Monte Carlo simulations in combination with free-energy calculations to accurately predict the phase diagrams of these particles and map them via the freezing density to hard spheres, then we use umbrella sampling to explore the nucleation process. Surprisingly, we find that even very small amounts of charge repulsion can have a significant effect on the phase behavior. Specifically, we find that phase boundaries and nucleation barriers are mostly dependent on the Debye screening length and that even screening lengths as small as 2% of the particle diameter are sufficient to show marked differences in both. This work demonstrates clearly that even mildly charged colloids are not effectively hard spheres.
Funder
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Subject
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,General Physics and Astronomy
Cited by
2 articles.
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