Entropy-Driven Crystallization of Hard Colloidal Mixtures of Polymers and Monomers.

ABSTRACT: The most trivial example of self-assembly is the entropy-driven crystallization of hard spheres. Past works have established the similarities and differences in the phase behavior of monomers and chains made of hard spheres. Inspired by the difference in the melting points of the pure components, we study, through Monte Carlo simulations, the phase behavior of athermal mixtures composed of fully flexible polymers and individual monomers of uniform size. We analyze how the relative number fraction and the packing density affect crystallization and the established ordered morphologies. As a first result, a more precise determination of the melting point for freely jointed chains of tangent hard spheres is extracted. A synergetic effect is observed in the crystallization leading to synchronou

SUBMITTER: Bouzid O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11359749 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature