Charged Particles on Surfaces: Coexistence of Dilute Phases and Periodic Structures on Membranes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how mixtures of neutral and charged molecules on surfaces form stable patterns and phase coexistence, combining analytical methods and simulations to reveal the underlying mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a phase diagram for charged-neutral molecule mixtures on surfaces, highlighting the coexistence of patterned solid and dilute phases due to competing interactions.

Findings

Coexistence of patterned solid and charge-dilute phases identified

Stable patterned domains observed within neutral matrix

Phase diagram constructed using analytical and simulation methods

Abstract

We consider a mixture of one neutral and two oppositely charged types of molecules confined to a surface. Using analytical techniques and molecular dynamics simulations, we construct the phase diagram of the system and exhibit the coexistence between a patterned solid phase and a charge-dilute phase. The patterns in the solid phase arise from competition between short-range immiscibility and long-range electrostatic attractions between the charged species. The coexistence between phases leads to observations of stable patterned domains immersed in a neutral matrix background.