title: Glassy states in asymmetric mixtures of soft and hard colloids.
abstract: By employing rheological experiments, mode coupling theory, and computer simulations based on realistic coarse-grained models, we investigate the effects of small, hard colloids on the glassy states formed by large, soft colloids. Multiarm star polymers mimic hard and soft colloids by appropriately varying the number and size of their arms. The addition of hard colloids leads, depending on their concentration, to either melting of the soft glass or the emergence of two distinct glassy states. We explain our findings by depletion of the colloids adjacent to the stars, which leads to an arrested phase separation when the repulsive glass line meets the demixing binodal. The parameter-free agreement between experiment, theory, and simulations suggests the generic nature of our results and opens the route for designing soft-hard colloidal composites with tunable rheology.
authors.affiliation: FO.R.T.H., Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, and Department of Materials Science & Technology, University of Crete, GR-71003 Heraklion, Greece and Université Montpellier 2, Laboratoire Charles Coulomb UMR 5221, F-34095 Montpellier, France and CNRS, Laboratoire Charles Coulomb UMR 5221, F-34095 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Truzzolillo
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Marzi
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marakis
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Capone
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camargo
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munam
authors.forename: Firmin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Moingeon
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: Christos N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Likos
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vlassopoulos