Coupled dynamics in binary mixtures of colloidal Yukawa systems

TL;DR

This study uses Brownian dynamics simulations to explore how size and electrostatic interactions in binary colloidal mixtures influence coupled self and collective particle dynamics, revealing mutual enhancements in mobility.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of how size ratios, densities, and electrostatic strength affect coupled dynamics in charged colloidal mixtures, a novel insight into their complex behavior.

Findings

Long-time self-diffusion of larger particles increases with smaller, more mobile species.

Collective dynamics are affected, altering decay times and functional forms of scattering functions.

Coupling effects depend systematically on size ratio, density, and electrostatic interaction strength.

Abstract

The dynamical behavior of binary mixtures consisting of highly charged colloidal particles is studied by means of Brownian dynamics simulations. We investigate differently sized, but identically charged particles with nearly identical interactions between all species in highly dilute suspensions. Different short-time self-diffusion coefficients induce, mediated by electrostatic interactions, a coupling of both self and collective dynamics of differently sized particles: The long-time self-diffusion coefficients of a larger species are increased by the presence of a more mobile, smaller species and vice versa. Similar coupling effects are observed in collective dynamics where in addition to the time constant of intermediate scattering function's initial decay its functional form, quantified by exponents of a stretched exponential decay, are influenced by the presence of a differently sized species. We provide a systematic analysis of coupling effects in dependence on the ratio of sizes, number densities, and the strength of electrostatic interactions.