Generalised local bond order parameter analysis: application to colloidal particles with dendritic polymer brushes

ABSTRACT

This study examines the self-assembly of colloidal particles with spherical dendritic brushes. The effective interaction between these particles was studied in Monte Carlo simulations of the Kremer–Grest model. Results confirmed the transferability of the effective potential at different temperatures. Using the potential of mean force obtained from Monte Carlo simulations, the structural formation of the system was studied in a three-dimensional system. The system is a crystalline state in the intermediate density range and exhibits re-entrant melting at much higher densities. Based on generalised local bond order analysis, a refined numerical method is proposed for analysing the structural formation of colloidal particles in three-dimensional systems. The numerical technique accurately reproduced the formation of the colloidal system.

KEYWORDS:

• Colloidal crystals
• polymer brushes
• dendrimers
• order–disorder transition

Acknowledgement

The author thanks R. Itoh and E. Voyiatzis for discussion. This work is supported by the high performance computing infrastructure (HPCI) research project (Project ID: hp170047) for the use of Fujitsu FX10 in the information technology center, the University of Tokyo. The author also acknowledges the Supercomputer Center, Institute of Solid State Physics at the University of Tokyo, for the use of their facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan [grant number 16K05038].