Issue 25, 2016

Removing grain boundaries from three-dimensional colloidal crystals using active dopants

Abstract

Using computer simulations we explore how grain boundaries can be removed from three-dimensional colloidal crystals by doping with a small fraction of active colloids. We show that for sufficient self-propulsion, the system is driven into a crystal-fluid coexistence. In this phase separated regime, the active dopants become mobile and spontaneously gather at the grain boundaries. The resulting surface melting and recrystallization of domains result in the motion of the grain boundaries over time and lead to the formation of a large single crystal. However, when the self-propulsion is too low to cause a phase separation, we observe no significant enhancement of grain growth.

Graphical abstract: Removing grain boundaries from three-dimensional colloidal crystals using active dopants

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Mar 2016
Accepted
27 May 2016
First published
30 May 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2016,12, 5630-5635

Removing grain boundaries from three-dimensional colloidal crystals using active dopants

B. van der Meer, M. Dijkstra and L. Filion, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 5630 DOI: 10.1039/C6SM00700G

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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