Inverse patchy colloids: from microscopic description to mesoscopic coarse-graining

Autor(en)

Emanuela Bianchi, Gerhard Kahl, Christos Likos

Abstrakt

Typically, patchy systems are characterized by the formation of a small number of directional, possibly selective, bonds due to the presence of attractive regions on the surface of otherwise repulsive particles. Here, we consider a new type of particles with patterned surfaces and we refer to them as inverse patchy colloids because, in this case, the patches on the repulsive particles repel each other instead of attracting. Further, these patches attract the parts of the colloid that are free of patches. Specifically, we consider heterogeneously charged colloids consisting of negatively charged spherical particles carrying a small number of positively charged patches. Making use of the Debye-Huckel theory, we derive the effective interaction potential between a pair of inverse patchy colloids with two patches on opposite poles. We then design a simple coarse-grained model via a mapping with the analytical pair potential. The coarse-grained model quantitatively reproduces the features of its microscopic counterpart, while at the same time being characterized by a much higher degree of computational simplicity. Moreover, the mesoscopic model is generalizable to an arbitrary number of patches.

Organisation(en)

Computergestützte Physik und Physik der Weichen Materie

Externe Organisation(en)

Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Technische Universität Wien

Journal

Soft Matter

Band

7

Seiten

8313-8323

Anzahl der Seiten

11

ISSN

1744-683X

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sm05597f

Publikationsdatum

2011

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103023 Polymerphysik, 103036 Theoretische Physik, 103015 Kondensierte Materie, 103029 Statistische Physik

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/ca76d70c-7848-43f3-bbeb-64e5801b0406