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arXiv · cond-mat/9803078

Stability of Colloidal Quasicrystals

A. R. Denton·H. Lowen
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Abstract

Freezing of charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions and relative stabilities of crystals and quasicrystals are studied using thermodynamic perturbation theory. Macroion interactions are modelled by effective pair potentials combining electrostatic repulsion with polymer-depletion or van der Waals attraction. Comparing free energies -- counterion terms included -- for elementary crystals and rational approximants to icosahedral quasicrystals, parameters are identified for which one-component quasicrystals are stabilized by a compromise between packing entropy and cohesive energy.

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A. R. Denton, H. Lowen. 1998-03-06. Stability of Colloidal Quasicrystals. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.81.469

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