2018/07/30 by Stefano Franzini, Franzini, Stefano, L. Reatto +3
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions #Material Dynamics and Properties #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1807.11303
We investigate the formation of cluster crystals with multiply occupied\nlattice sites on a spherical surface in systems of ultra-soft particles\ninteracting via repulsive, bounded pair potentials. Not all interactions of\nthis kind lead to clustering: we generalize the criterion devised in C.N. Likos\net al., Phys. Rev. E, 2001, 63, 031206 to spherical systems in order to\ndistinguish between cluster forming systems and fluids which display reentrant\nmelting. We use both DFT and Monte Carlo simulations to characterize the\nbehavior of the system, and obtain semi-quantitative agreement between the two.\nFurthermore, we study the effect of topological frustration on the system due\nto the sphere curvature by comparing the properties of disclinations, i.e.,\nclusters with fewer than six neighbors, and non-defective clusters.\nDisclinations are shown to be less stable, contain fewer particles, and be\ncloser to their neighbors than other lattice points: these properties are\nexplained on the basis of geometric and energetic considerations.\n