Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 35: Modeling and Simulation of Soft Matter I (joint session CPP/DY)

DY 35.5: Talk

Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 16:00–16:15, H18

Soft deformable colloids: self-assembly and structure through computer simulations — •Mihir Khadilkar and Arash Nikoubashman — Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany

Colloids represent a rich class of soft materials that are important not only as model systems to study physical processes at nanoscale, but also as versatile building blocks towards a variety of technological applications. While hard-core models of colloids (with solely excluded volume interaction) have had great success in studying ordering, structure and dynamics in the past, most experimental systems exhibit varying degrees of softness that could potentially drastically alter their static and dynamic properties. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of mesh models, we study the self-assembly of soft spherical and spheroidal colloids as a function of their elasticity and packing density. We quantify their arrangement and deformation using various order parameters. Further, we asses the dependence of eventual thermodynamic properties on the asphericity and softness of the colloids. For instance, we find that soft prolate ellipsoidal colloids (with aspect ratio 2) undergo a convex-to-concave transition at high pressures. The crystal structure also gets distorted, accompanied by an asymmetric deformation of principal directors. Addressing the structure-property relationship between softness arising from microstructure and the macroscopic properties could provide new routes towards designing and fabricating novel materials with tailored structural properties.