title: Reentrant network formation in patchy colloidal mixtures under gravity.
abstract: We study a two-dimensional binary mixture of patchy colloids in sedimentation-diffusion equilibrium using Monte Carlo simulation and Wertheim's theory. By tuning the buoyant masses of the colloids we can control the gravity-induced sequence of fluid stacks of differing density and percolation properties. We find complex stacking sequences with up to four layers and reentrant network formation, consistently in simulations and theoretically using only the bulk phase diagram as input. Our theory applies to general patchy colloidal mixtures and is relevant to understanding experiments under gravity.
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik II, Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: de las Heras
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik II, Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Lucas L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Treffenstädt
authors.affiliation: Theoretische Physik II, Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidt