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Updated: Dec 28, 2025

Synthesis and Characterization of Supramolecular Colloids
Published on: April 22, 2016
Packing Polydisperse Colloids into Crystals: When Charge-Dispersity Matters
Guillaume Bareigts1, Pree-Cha Kiatkirakajorn2, Joaquim Li3
1ICB, CNRS UMR 6303, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 21000 Dijon, France.
Abstract:
Monte Carlo simulations, fully constrained by experimental parameters, are found to agree well with a measured phase diagram of aqueous dispersions of nanoparticles with a moderate size polydispersity over a broad range of salt concentrations, c_{s}, and volume fractions, ϕ. Upon increasing ϕ, the colloids freeze first into coexisting compact solids then into a body centered cubic phase (bcc) before they melt into a glass forming liquid. The surprising stability of the bcc solid at high ϕ and c_{s} is explained by the interaction (charge) polydispersity and vibrational entropy.
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