Colloidal systems with competing interactions: from an arrested repulsive cluster phase to a gel

In this review, we discuss recent advances in the investigation of colloidal systems interacting via a combination of short-range attraction and long-range repulsion. The prototypical examples of this phenomenology are charged colloids with depletion interactions, but the results apply, to a large extent, also to suspensions of globular proteins, clays, and, in general, to systems with competing attractive (hydrophobic) and repulsive (polar) contributions. After a brief introduction to the problem, we focus on the three disordered states that characterize these systems: equilibrium cluster phase, equilibrium gel, and Wigner glass of clusters. We provide a comparison of their static and dynamic observables, mainly by means of numerical simulations. Next, we discuss the few available studies on their viscoelastic properties and on their response to an external shear. Finally, we provide a summary of the current findings and also raise the main open questions and challenges for the future in this topic. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics, Volume 12 is March 10, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Modulated phases and structural arrest in colloidal systems with competing interactions

Molecular Physics ◽

10.1080/00268976.2011.624556 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 109 (23-24) ◽

pp. 2981-2987 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

A. Coniglio ◽

A. de Candia ◽

A. Fierro

Keyword(s):

Colloidal Systems ◽

Competing Interactions ◽

Modulated Phases

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Origin of similarity of phase diagrams in amphiphilic and colloidal systems with competing interactions

Soft Matter ◽

10.1039/c3sm50668a ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (27) ◽

pp. 6301 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

A. Ciach ◽

J. Pękalski ◽

W. T. Góźdź

Keyword(s):

Phase Diagrams ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Competing Interactions

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Structural and Dynamical Behaviour of Colloids with Competing Interactions Confined in Slit Pores

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms222011050 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (20) ◽

pp. 11050

Author(s):

Horacio Serna ◽

Wojciech T. Góźdź ◽

Eva G. Noya

Keyword(s):

Hexagonal Phase ◽

Dynamical Behaviour ◽

Narrow Slit ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Pore Width ◽

Competing Interactions ◽

Lamellar Phases ◽

Bulk System ◽

The One ◽

Slit Pores

Systems with short-range attractive and long-range repulsive interactions can form periodic modulated phases at low temperatures, such as cluster-crystal, hexagonal, lamellar and bicontinuous gyroid phases. These periodic microphases should be stable regardless of the physical origin of the interactions. However, they have not yet been experimentally observed in colloidal systems, where, in principle, the interactions can be tuned by modifying the colloidal solution. Our goal is to investigate whether the formation of some of these periodic microphases can be promoted by confinement in narrow slit pores. By performing simulations of a simple model with competing interactions, we find that both the cluster-crystal and lamellar phases can be stable up to higher temperatures than in the bulk system, whereas the hexagonal phase is destabilised at temperatures somewhat lower than in bulk. Besides, we observed that the internal ordering of the lamellar phase can be modified by changing the pore width. Interestingly, for sufficiently wide pores to host three lamellae, there is a range of temperatures for which the two lamellae close to the walls are internally ordered, whereas the one at the centre of the pore remains internally disordered. We also find that particle diffusion under confinement exhibits a complex dependence with the pore width and with the density, obtaining larger and smaller values of the diffusion coefficient than in the corresponding bulk system.

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The influence of confinement on the structure of colloidal systems with competing interactions

Soft Matter ◽

10.1039/c9sm02002k ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 718-727 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Horacio Serna ◽

Eva G. Noya ◽

Wojciech T. Góźdź

Keyword(s):

Monte Carlo ◽

Monte Carlo Simulations ◽

Cross Section ◽

Grand Canonical Monte Carlo ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Competing Interactions ◽

Grand Canonical

Using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate how the structure of a colloidal fluid with competing interactions can be modified by confinement in channels with different cross-section geometries and sizes.

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Percolation in colloidal systems with competing interactions: the role of long-range repulsion

RSC Advances ◽

10.1039/c3ra44588g ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 3 (47) ◽

pp. 25110 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Néstor E. Valadez-Pérez ◽

Ramón Castañeda-Priego ◽

Yun Liu

Keyword(s):

Long Range ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Competing Interactions

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Electronic Mayonnaise: Uniting the Sciences of “Hard” and “Soft” Matter

MRS Bulletin ◽

10.1557/mrs2005.119 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 433-436 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

J. Schmalian ◽

P.G. Wolynes

Keyword(s):

Soft Matter ◽

Materials Science ◽

Electronic Materials ◽

Condensed Matter ◽

High Temperature Superconductors ◽

Thermal Fluctuations ◽

Strongly Correlated ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Competing Interactions ◽

Highly Correlated

Abstract“Soft” condensed-matter science (also known as colloid chemistry) has revealed the nearly zoological complexity of long-lived structures that can arise from the competing interactions working in concert with thermal fluctuations both near and far from equilibrium. “Hard” condensed-matter science has revealed the stark beauty of elementary excitations shimmering on a placid quantum Fermi sea. The study of strongly correlated electronic states of matter is forcing us to unify these often disparate branches of materials science. Explaining confusing phenomena occurring in high-temperature superconductors and related materials seems to require that long-lived electronic structures be generated largely on their own, but perhaps with a little help from lattice disorder.We will explain the fruitful analogy between such systems and classical colloidal systems such as mayonnaise. Ordered crystalline, striped, or checkerboard phases and striped glasses emerge as candidate forms of highly correlated matter that may explain many puzzling observations of electronic materials.

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Colloidal systems in soils

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100168050 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 64-65

Author(s):

J. Thieme ◽

J. Niemeyer ◽

P. Guttman

Keyword(s):

Clay Minerals ◽

Polymeric Materials ◽

Spatial Arrangement ◽

High Specific Surface Area ◽

Turnover Rates ◽

Colloidal Systems ◽

Chemical Conditions ◽

Aggregation Phenomena ◽

Iron And Manganese ◽

Soil Colloids

In soil science the fraction of colloids in soils is understood as particles with diameters smaller than 2μm. Clay minerals, aquoxides of iron and manganese, humic substances, and other polymeric materials are found in this fraction. The spatial arrangement (microstructure) is controlled by the substantial structure of the colloids, by the chemical composition of the soil solution, and by thesoil biota. This microstructure determines among other things the diffusive mass flow within the soils and as a result the availability of substances for chemical and microbiological reactions. The turnover of nutrients, the adsorption of toxicants and the weathering of soil clay minerals are examples of these surface mediated reactions. Due to their high specific surface area, the soil colloids are the most reactive species in this respect. Under the chemical conditions in soils, these minerals are associated in larger aggregates. The accessibility of reactive sites for these reactions on the surface of the colloids is reduced by this aggregation. To determine the turnover rates of chemicals within these aggregates it is highly desirable to visualize directly these aggregation phenomena.

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