Influencing the direct formation of ‘Janus’ particles in molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

The binary nucleation of phase-separated Lennard-Jones clusters was analysed under various system conditions using molecular dynamics simulations. The modified potential model provides a simple gateway to observe non-wetting behaviour and imitates the more complex interactions of non-miscible substances. Thus, not only the transition from ideally mixed clusters to so-called ‘Janus’ particles, but also the structural aspects and dynamic formation processes of nanoscopic droplets are directly observable from the gas phase. Various shapes and sizes of these inhomogeneous clusters have been found via simple tuning of system parameters. From this analysis, we gained further insight into the direct formation of ‘Janus’ particles from the gas phase.

Keywords::

• binary nucleation
• molecular dynamics
• Janus particles

PACS::

• 64.60.Q − 
• 82.60.Nh
• 07.05.Tp
• 61.20.Ja
• 64.70.Nd