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Bicontinuous and mixed gels in binary mixtures of patchy colloidal particles

Publication . De Las Heras, Daniel; Tavares, Jose; Gama, Margarida

We investigate the thermodynamics and percolation regimes of model binary mixtures of patchy colloidal particles. The particles of each species have three sites of two types, one of which promotes bonding of particles of the same species while the other promotes bonding of different species. We find up to four percolated structures at low temperatures and densities: two gels where only one species percolates, a mixed gel where particles of both species percolate but neither species percolates separately, and a bicontinuous gel where particles of both species percolate separately forming two interconnected networks. The competition between the entropy and the energy of bonding drives the stability of the different percolating structures. Appropriate mixtures exhibit one or more connectivity transitions between the mixed and bicontinuous gels, as the temperature and/or the composition changes.

2012Journal article

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Quantitative description of the self-assembly of patchy particles into chains and rings

Publication . Tavares, Jose; Rovigatti, Lorenzo; SCIORTINO, Francesco

We numerically study a simple fluid composed of particles having a hard-core repulsion complemented by two patchy attractive sites on the particle poles. An appropriate choice of the patch angular width allows for the formation of ring structures which, at low temperatures and low densities, compete with the growth of linear aggregates. The simplicity of the model makes it possible to compare simulation results and theoretical predictions based on the Wertheim perturbation theory, specialized to the case in which ring formation is allowed. Such a comparison offers a unique framework for establishing the quality of the analytic predictions. We find that the Wertheim theory describes remarkably well the simulation results.

2012-07-28Journal article

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