Computer simulations of structure, dynamics, and phase behavior of colloidal fluids in confined geometry and under shear

Abstract

Using computer simulations, colloidal systems in different external fields are investigated. Colloid-polymer mixtures, described in terms of the Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model, are considered under strong confinement. Both in cylindrical and spherical confinement, the demixing transition of the three-dimensional AO model is rounded and, using Monte Carlo simulations, we analyze in detail the consequences of this rounding (occurrence of multi-domain states in cylindrical geometry, non-equivalence of conjugate ensembles due to different finite-size corrections in spherical geometry etc.). For the case of the AO model confined between two parallel walls, spinodal decomposition is studied using a combination of molecular dynamics simulation and the multiparticle collision dynamics method. This allows us to investigate the influence of hydrodynamic interactions on the domain growth during spinodal decomposition. For a binary glass-forming Yukawa mixture, non-linear active micro-rheology is considered, i.e. a single particle is pulled through a deeply supercooled liquid. The diffusion dynamics of the pulled particle is analyzed in terms of the van Hove correlation function. Finally, the Yukawa mixture in the glass state, confined between walls, is studied under the imposition of a uniform shear stress. Below and around the yield stress, persistent creep in the form of shear-banded structures is observed.