Relaxation dynamics of functionalized colloids on attractive substrates

TL;DR

This study uses particle-based simulations to analyze how functionalized colloids relax on attractive substrates, revealing kinetically arrested structures, non-monotonic coverage, and distinct fast and slow relaxation dynamics.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the post-relaxation behavior of patchy colloids on substrates, highlighting the dependence on particle number and interaction strengths.

Findings

Kinetically arrested structures depend on particle number and interaction strengths.

First-layer coverage peaks at approximately one monolayer.

Fast relaxation times increase linearly with particle number in submonolayer regime, then saturate.

Abstract

Particle-based simulations are performed to study the post-relaxation dynamics of functionalized (patchy) colloids adsorbed on an attractive substrate. Kinetically arrested structures that depend on the number of adsorbed particles and the strength of the particle-particle and particle-substrate interactions are identified. The radial distribution function is characterized by a sequence of peaks, with relative intensities that depend on the number of adsorbed particles. The first-layer coverage is a non-monotonic function of the number of particles, with an optimal value around one layer of adsorbed particles. The initial relaxation towards these structures is characterized by a fast (exponential) and a slow (power-law) dynamics. The fast relaxation timescale is a linearly increasing function of the number of adsorbed particles in the submonolayer regime, but it saturates for more than one adsorbed layer. The slow dynamics exhibits two characteristic exponents, depending on the surface coverage.