Mixtures of Rod-like and Spherical Colloids under Confinement: Phase Transition Kinetics (D05)

• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2005 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5485412

Extending our work on rod-sphere mixtures, which was focused on equilibrium properties of the bulk and the system confined to thin films, we will now study phase transition kinetics. The dynamics of the colloidal dispersion including hydrodynamic interactions will be modelled via the multi-particle collision dynamics method. We will address the kinetics of heterogeneous nucleation of rod-rich droplets at planar and curved walls (considering also cylindrical confinement), as well as the growth of these droplets under consideration of the interplay with local orientational order. When quenching the system deeply into the two-phase coexistence region the growth of a percolating phase rich in rod-like colloids due to spinodal decomposition will also be studied.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 6: Physics of Colloidal Dispersions in External Fields
• Applicant Institution: Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
• Co-Applicant Institution: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Kurt Binder (†); Professorin Dr. Tanja Schilling, until 12/2009