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Published on: May 20, 2014
Aggregation kinetics in a model colloidal suspension
1Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Abstract:
We present molecular dynamics simulations of aggregation kinetics in a colloidal suspension modeled as a highly asymmetric binary mixture. Starting from a configuration with largely uncorrelated colloidal particles the system relaxes by coagulation-fragmentation dynamics to a structured state of low-dimensionality clusters with an exponential size distribution. The results show that short-range repulsive interactions alone can give rise to so-called cluster phases. For the present model and probably other, more common colloids, the observed clusters appear to be equilibrium phase fluctuations induced by the entropic intercolloidal attractions.
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