Published in

Royal Society of Chemistry, Soft Matter, 5(5), p. 1024

DOI: 10.1039/b813916d

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Cluster Crystals in Confinement

Journal article published in 2008 by Sven van Teeffelen ORCID, Angel J. Moreno, Christos N. Likos
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Postprint: archiving restricted
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

A large class of fluids of particles interacting via ultrasoft, repulsive pair potentials crystallize into cluster crystals. Here, we employ density functional theory and computer simulations to study the behavior of a system of particles that repel each other with a $exp(-r^8)$-potential [A. J. Moreno and C. N. Likos, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2007, 99, 107801] under planar confinement. We compare the behavior for purely repulsive to that for attractive slit walls. In particular, we present the phase diagram and we show that for repulsive walls the system freezes from the middle, whereas for attractive ones crystallization sets in at the walls and proceeds to the middle. For large wall-wall-separations we find continuous growth of a fluid or crystalline layer on the wall, depending on the wall-particle interaction, which is interrupted by capillary melting or freezing close to the bulk crystallization transition. An asymptotic scaling analysis of the width of the liquid or crystalline films growing at the walls indicate complete wetting in both cases.