Two-step nucleation in a binary mixture of patchy particles
Abstract
Nucleation in systems with a metastable liquid–gas critical point is the prototypical example of a two-step nucleation process in which the appearance of the critical nucleus is preceded by the formation of a liquid-like density fluctuation. So far, the majority of studies on colloidal and protein crystallization have focused on one-component systems, and we are lacking a clear description of two-step nucleation processes in multicomponent systems, where critical fluctuations involve coupled density and concentration inhomogeneities. Here, we examine the nucleation process of a binary mixture of patchy particles designed to nucleate into a diamond lattice. By combining Gibbs-ensemble simulations and direct nucleation simulations over a wide range of thermodynamic conditions, we are able to pin down the role of the liquid–gas metastable phase diagram on the nucleation process. In particular, we show that the strongest enhancement of crystallization occurs at an azeotropic point with the same stoichiometric composition of the crystal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 17, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0140847
Entities
People
- Camilla Beneduce
- Diogo E. P. Pinto
- Francesco Sciortino
- John Russo
- Petr Šulc
Organizations
- Arizona State University
- Office of Naval Research
- Sapienza University of Rome
- University of Bonn