From Lumps to Lattices: Crystallized Clots Made Simple

TL;DR

This paper presents a minimal continuum model to understand the formation of colloidal cluster mesophases with soft concave interactions, deriving key properties and extending clustering criteria to account for hard core effects.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified continuum framework that rederives lattice parameters and extends clustering criteria considering hard core effects in colloidal systems.

Findings

Derived lattice spacing, binding energy, and phase diagram for colloidal clusters.

Extended clustering criterion to include hard core effects.

Provided insights into cluster formation thresholds at different densities.

Abstract

Using a minimal model based on the continuum theory of a 2D hard-core/square-shoulder ensemble, we reinterpret the main features of cluster mesophases formed by colloids with soft concave repulsive interactions. We rederive the lattice spacing, the binding energy and the phase diagram. We also extend the clustering criterion [Likos, C. N., et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2001, 63, 031206; Glaser, M. A., et al. EPL 2007, 78, 46004] to include the effect of the hard cores, which precludes the formation of clusters at small densities.