Separation and fractionation of order and disorder in highly polydisperse systems.
We study a polydisperse soft-spheres model for colloids by means of microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations. We consider a polydispersity as high as 24%. Although solidification occurs, neither a crystal nor an amorphous state are thermodynamically stable. A finite size scaling analysis reveals that in the thermodynamic limit: (a) the fluid-solid transition is rather a crystal-amorphous phase-separation, (b) such phase-separation is preceded by the dynamic glass transition, and (c) small and big particles arrange themselves in the two phases according to a complex pattern not predicted by any fractionation scenario.
Fernández
L A
LA
Departamento de Física Teórica I, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.
Martín-Mayor
V
V
Seoane
B
B
Verrocchio
P
P
D005591:Chemical Fractionation / Q000379:methods*; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008956:Models, Chemical
D003102:Colloids