Crystal structures of a core-softened system confined in a narrow slit pore

TL;DR

This study explores the complex phase behavior of a core-softened system confined in a narrow slit pore, revealing new crystalline and quasicrystalline phases and challenging previous assumptions about layer stability.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of core-softened systems in narrow slit pores, uncovering novel phases and contrasting behaviors with prior models.

Findings

Identification of a quasicrystalline phase.

Observation that two triangular layers form at lower densities than two square layers.

Demonstration of more complex phase behavior than previously thought.

Abstract

We investigate a behavior of a core-softened system in a thin slit pore (the width of the pore is equil to three diameters of the particles). In previous studies it was shown that strongly confined systems form crystalline phases which consist of several triangular or square layers. These phases can be also considered as cuts of FCC or HCP structures. We show that the behavior of the core-softened system is more complex. We observe also a quasicrystalline phase. Moreover, the phase with two triangular layers appears at lower densities than the one with two square layers which is in contrast to the behavior of the systems studied before. These results demonstrate that the phase behavior of strongly confined systems can be even more complex than it was supposed before.