Phase separation in binary colloids with charge asymmetry

Abstract

We report that binary dispersions of like-charged colloidal particles with large charge asymmetry but similar size exhibit phase separation into crystal and fluid phases under very low salt conditions. This is unexpected because the effective colloid-colloid pair interactions are accurately described by a Yukawa model which is stable to demixing. We show that colloid-ion interactions provide an energetic driving force for phase separation, which is initiated by crystallization of one species.

References in corpus (4)

• Density-dependent interactions and structure of charged colloidal dispersions in the weak screening regime
• Phase behaviour of deionized binary mixtures of charged colloidal spheres
• The polydisperse cell model: Non-linear screening and charge renormalization in colloidal mixtures
• Charge Renormalization, Effective Interactions, and Thermodynamics of Deionized Colloidal Suspensions

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Non-additivity of pair interactions in charged colloids
• Anisotropic electrostatic screening of charged colloids in nematic solvents
• Low-density crystals in charged colloids : Comparison with Yukawa theory
• Effective electrostatic interactions in mixtures of charged colloids
• Renormalized jellium model for colloidal mixtures
• Machine-Learned Many-Body Potentials for Charged Colloids reveal Gas-Liquid Spinodal Instabilities only in the strong-coupling regime of Primitive Models
• Structural correlations in highly asymmetric binary charged colloidal mixtures