Shape Driven Solid--Solid Transitions in Colloids

TL;DR

This paper introduces shape-controlled colloidal models to study solid--solid phase transitions, revealing thermodynamic pathways and barriers, with implications for reconfigurable material design.

Contribution

It presents a novel colloidal model system where shape change induces and characterizes solid--solid transitions, including barrierless and activated pathways.

Findings

Solid--solid transitions can occur with or without thermal barriers.

Shape change controls local order and phase transitions.

Implications for designing reconfigurable materials.

Abstract

Despite the fundamental importance of solid--solid transitions for metallurgy, ceramics, earth science, reconfigurable materials, and colloidal matter, the details of how materials transform between two solid structures are poorly understood. We introduce a class of {simple} model systems in which the direct control of local order, via colloid shape change, induces solid--solid phase transitions, and characterize how the transitions happen thermodynamically. We find that within a single shape family there are solid--solid transitions that can occur with or without a thermal activation barrier. Our results provide new means for the study of solid--solid phase transitions, and have implications for designing reconfigurable materials.