title: Electrostatic repulsion-driven crystallization model arising from filament networks.
abstract: The crystallization of bundles in filament networks interacting via long-range repulsions in confinement is described by a phenomenological model. The model demonstrates the formation of the hexagonal crystalline order via the interplay of the confinement potential and the filament-filament repulsion. Two distinct crystallization mechanisms in the short- and large- screening length regimes are discussed, and the phase diagram is obtained. Simulation of large bundles predicts the existence of topological defects within the bundled filaments. This electrostatic repulsion-driven crystallization model arising from studying filament networks can even find a more general context extending to charged colloidal systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3108, USA.
authors.forename: Zhenwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olvera de la Cruz