The effect of inter-cluster interactions on the structure of colloidal clusters

TL;DR

This study investigates how inter-cluster interactions influence the internal structure of colloidal clusters, revealing that increased density causes clusters to behave more like ground states, while dilute conditions allow isolated cluster assumptions.

Contribution

The paper provides simulation-based insights into how inter-cluster interactions affect intra-cluster structures in colloidal systems, highlighting density-dependent behavior.

Findings

Higher density increases ground state cluster populations.

Inter-cluster interactions perturb intra-cluster structures.

Dilute systems behave as isolated clusters.

Abstract

Colloidal systems present exciting opportunities to study clusters. Unlike atomic clusters, which are frequently produced at extremely low density, colloidal clusters may interact with one another. Here we consider the effect of such interactions on the intra-cluster structure in simulations of colloidal cluster fluids. A sufficient increase in density leads to a higher population of clusters in the ground state. In other words, inter-cluster interactions perturb the intra-cluster behaviour, such that each cluster may no longer be considered as an isolated system. Conversely, for dilute, weakly interacting cluster fluids little dependence on colloid concentration is observed, and we thus argue that it is reasonable to treat each cluster as an isolated system.