Surface-charge-induced freezing of colloidal suspensions

TL;DR

This study uses grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations to explore how charged walls influence the crystallization and phase transitions of confined charged colloidal suspensions, revealing surface-charge-induced freezing and melting phenomena.

Contribution

It demonstrates that charged walls significantly affect colloidal crystallization, introducing surface-charge-induced phase transitions not observed with uncharged walls.

Findings

Charged walls alter high-density fluid behavior.

Surface charges induce freezing and melting transitions.

Charged wall effects are crucial for colloidal phase control.

Abstract

Using grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulations we investigate the impact of charged walls on the crystallization properties of charged colloidal suspensions confined between these walls. The investigations are based on an effective model focussing on the colloids alone. Our results demonstrate that the fluid-wall interaction stemming from charged walls has a crucial impact on the fluid's high-density behavior as compared to the case of uncharged walls. In particular, based on an analysis of in-plane bond order parameters we find surface-charge-induced freezing and melting transitions.