Percolation, phase separation, and gelation in fluids and mixtures of spheres and rods
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States)
The relationship between kinetic arrest, connectivity percolation, structure and phase separation in protein, nanoparticle, and colloidal suspensions is a rich and complex problem. Using a combination of integral equation theory, connectivity percolation methods, naïve mode coupling theory, and the activated dynamics nonlinear Langevin equation approach, we study this problem for isotropic one-component fluids of spheres and variable aspect ratio rigid rods, and also percolation in rod-sphere mixtures. The key control parameters are interparticle attraction strength and its (short) spatial range, total packing fraction, and mixture composition. For spherical particles, formation of a homogeneous one-phase kinetically stable and percolated physical gel is predicted to be possible, but depends on non-universal factors. On the other hand, the dynamic crossover to activated dynamics and physical bond formation, which signals discrete cluster formation below the percolation threshold, almost always occurs in the one phase region. Rods more easily gel in the homogeneous isotropic regime, but whether a percolation or kinetic arrest boundary is reached first upon increasing interparticle attraction depends sensitively on packing fraction, rod aspect ratio and attraction range. Overall, the connectivity percolation threshold is much more sensitive to attraction range than either the kinetic arrest or phase separation boundaries. Furthermore, our results appear to be qualitatively consistent with recent experiments on polymer-colloid depletion systems and brush mediated attractive nanoparticle suspensions.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-07ER46471
- OSTI ID:
- 1876029
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 135, Issue 23; ISSN 0021-9606
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Monte Carlo simulation of cylinders with short-range attractions
|
journal | September 2018 |
Dynamic arrest of adhesive hard rod dispersions
|
journal | January 2020 |
Microscopic theory of the influence of strong attractive forces on the activated dynamics of dense glass and gel forming fluids
|
journal | December 2019 |
Microdynamics and arrest of coarsening during spinodal decomposition in thermoreversible colloidal gels
|
journal | January 2015 |
Similar Records
Dynamic localization and shear-induced hopping of particles: A way to understand the rheology of dense colloidal dispersions
Dynamic localization and shear-induced hopping of particles: A way to understand the rheology of dense colloidal dispersions