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Updated: Jan 17, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Polydispersity-driven dynamical differences between two- and three-dimensional supercooled liquids
Ilian Pihlajamaa1, Lotte S van Gessel1, Corentin C L Laudicina1
1Eindhoven University of Technology, Soft Matter & Biological Physics, Department of Applied Physics, P.O. Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
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The dynamics of supercooled liquids and glasses are widely believed to be similar in two and three dimensions. However, our study challenges this assumption by showing that polydispersity-driven relaxation dynamics differ drastically across dimensions. We resolve an apparent contradiction in prior work by demonstrating that standard corrections for Mermin-Wagner fluctuations obscure size-dependent relaxation in two dimensions. Furthermore, our analysis of mobile particle clusters reveals distinct growth mechanisms, with three-dimensional systems favoring sparse, small-particle-dominated clusters, while two-dimensional systems exhibit more cooperative, size-agnostic rearrangements.
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