Understanding tetrahedral liquids through patchy colloids

Abstract

We investigate the structural properties of a simple model for tetrahedral patchy colloids in which the patch width and the patch range can be tuned independently. For wide bond angles, a fully bonded network can be generated by standard Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics simulations of the model, providing a neat method for generating defect-free random tetrahedral networks. This offers the possibility of focusing on the role of the patch angular width on the structure of the fully bonded network. The analysis of the fully bonded configurations as a function of the bonding angle shows how the bonding angle controls the system compressibility, the strength of the pre-peak in the structure factor and ring size distribution. Comparison with models of liquid water and silica allows us to find the best mapping between these continuous potentials and the colloidal one. Building on previous studies focused on the connection between angular range and crystallization, the mapping makes it possible to shed new light on the glass-forming ability of network-forming tetrahedral liquids.

10 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Liquids more stable than crystals
• Gel-forming patchy colloids and network glass formers: Thermodynamic and Dynamic analogies
• Slow dynamics in a primitive tetrahedral network model

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Tuning the liquid-liquid transition by modulating the hydrogen bond angular flexibility in a model for water
• Distinct signature of two local structural motifs of liquid water in the scattering function
• Search for a liquid-liquid critical point in models of silica
• Accurate phase diagram of tetravalent DNA nanostars
• The physics of Empty Liquids: from Patchy particles to Water
• Examples of molecular self-assembly at surfaces
• Surface tension of supercooled water nanodroplets from computer simulations
• A possible four-phase coexistence in a single-component system
• Phase Diagram of a Reentrant Gel of Patchy Particles
• Emergent rhombus tilings from molecular interactions with $M$-fold rotational symmetry
• Free energy of formation of small ice nuclei near the Widom line in simulations of supercooled water
• Common physical framework explains phase behavior and dynamics of atomic, molecular and polymeric network-formers
• Chromatic patchy particles: effects of specific interactions on liquid structure
• Bulk structural informations from density functionals for patchy particles
• Low density interior in supercooled aqueous nanodroplets expels ions to the subsurface
• A theory for the effect of patch / non-patch attractions on the self-assembly of patchy colloids