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American Physical Society, Physical review E: Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics, 3(72), 2005

DOI: 10.1103/physreve.72.031407

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Stability of the binary colloidal crystalsAB2andAB13

Journal article published in 2005 by A. B. Schofield ORCID, P. N. Pusey, P. Radcliffe
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Suspensions of binary mixtures of hard-sphere poly-methylmethacrylate colloidal particles were studied at six different size ratios alpha. The main aim was to determine the range of size ratios over which the binary colloidal crystals AB2 and AB13 are stable. Combining these results with those of earlier work, we found stability of AB2 for 0.60 approximately > alpha approximately > 0.425, in good agreement with theoretical predictions by computer simulation and cell model methods. AB13 was observed for 0.62 approximately > alpha approximately > 0.485, the lower limit being significantly smaller than the theoretical prediction of about 0.525. Rough measurements of crystallization rates showed that AB2 tended to crystallize fastest at small size ratios, whereas the opposite was true for AB13. These findings should provide a guide to the optimum conditions for materials applications of these binary colloidal crystals.