title: Heuristic rule for binary superlattice coassembly: mixed plastic mesophases of hard polyhedral nanoparticles.
abstract: Sought-after ordered structures of mixtures of hard anisotropic nanoparticles can often be thermodynamically unfavorable due to the components' geometric incompatibility to densely pack into regular lattices. A simple compatibilization rule is identified wherein the particle sizes are chosen such that the order-disorder transition pressures of the pure components match (and the entropies of the ordered phases are similar). Using this rule with representative polyhedra from the truncated-cube family that form pure-component plastic crystals, Monte Carlo simulations show the formation of plastic-solid solutions for all compositions and for a wide range of volume fractions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Mihir R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Khadilkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Fernando A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Escobedo
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D008956:Models, Chemical; D009010:Monte Carlo Method; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010969:Plastics / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D012996:Solutions