Packing Polydisperse Colloids into Crystals: When Charge-Dispersity Matters

Phys Rev Lett. 2020 Feb 7;124(5):058003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.058003.

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulations, fully constrained by experimental parameters, are found to agree well with a measured phase diagram of aqueous dispersions of nanoparticles with a moderate size polydispersity over a broad range of salt concentrations, c_{s}, and volume fractions, ϕ. Upon increasing ϕ, the colloids freeze first into coexisting compact solids then into a body centered cubic phase (bcc) before they melt into a glass forming liquid. The surprising stability of the bcc solid at high ϕ and c_{s} is explained by the interaction (charge) polydispersity and vibrational entropy.