title: Influence of patch-size variability on the crystallization of tetrahedral patchy particles.
abstract: The understanding of disorder effects on crystallization is of fundamental and technological importance. It is well established by both theory and experiment that particle-size polydispersity hinders crystallization for isotropically interacting particles. Here, we address the effects of patch variability in a model for tetrahedral colloids, where polydispersity is introduced independently on the size, position, and strength of the attractive patches. Our simulations indicate that, unlike particle-size polydispersity, angular polydispersity has a minor impact on the crystallization properties of tetrahedral colloidal particles. Particles with angular polydispersity well within current experimental possibilities fully retain their crystallization properties, a result which should encourage the realization of colloidal crystals in experiment.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan and Department of Chemistry, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Romano
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka