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A. De Virgiliis

Publications and source records attributed to A. De Virgiliis.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Unexpected crossover dynamics of single polymer in a corrugated tube

We present molecular dynamics study of a generic (coarse-grained) model for single-polymer diffusion confined in a corrugated cylinder. For a narrow tube, i.e., diameter of the cylinder $δ< 2.3$, the axial diffusion coefficient $D_{||}$ scales as $D_{||} \propto N^{-3/2}$, with chain length $N$, up to $N \approx 100$ then crosses over to Rouse scaling for the larger $N$ values. The $N^{-3/2}$ scaling is due to the large fluctuation of the polymer chain along its fully stretched equilibrium conformation. The stronger scaling, namely $N^{-3/2}$, is not observed for an atomistically smooth tube and/or for a cylinder with larger diameter.

cond-mat.soft↗

Colloid-Polymer Mixtures Confined Between Asymmetric Walls: Simulation Evidence for an Interface Localization Transition

Phase separation of colloid-polymer mixtures, described by the Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model, confined in a thin slit pore is studied by grand-canonical Monte Carlo simulation. While one wall is a hard wall for both particles, at the other wall there acts an additional repulsive potential on the colloids only. Varying the strength of this potential, a crossover from capillary condensation to an interface localization transition is found. The latter occurs under conditions where in the bulk almost complete phase separation has occurred.

cond-mat.soft↗

Interplay of order-disorder phenomena and diffusion in rigid binary alloys: Monte Carlo simulations of the two-dimensional ABV model

Transport phenomena are studied for a binary (AB) alloy on a rigid square lattice with nearest-neighbor attraction between unlike particles, assuming a small concentration $c_v$ of vacancies $V$ being present, to which $A(B)$ particles can jump with rates $Γ_A (Γ_B)$ in the case where the nearest neighbor attractive energy $ε_{AB}$ is negligible in comparison with the thermal energy $k_BT$ in the system. This model exhibits a continuous order-disorder transition for concentrations $c_A,c_B=1-c_A-c_V$ in the range $c_{A,1}^{crit}\leq c_A \leq c_{A,2}^{crit}$, with $c_{A,1}^{crit}=(1-m^*-c_V)/2$, $c_{A,2}^{crit} =(1+m^*-c_V)/2$, $m* \approx 0.25$, the maximum critical temperature occurring for $c*=c_A=c_B=(1-c_V)/2$, i.e. $m^*=0$. This phase transition belongs to the $d=2$ Ising universality class, demonstrated by a finite size scaling analysis. From a study of mean-square displacements of tagged particles, self-diffusion coefficients are deduced, while applying chemical potential gradients allow the estimation of Onsager coefficients. Analyzing finally the decay with time of sinusoidal concentration variations that were prepared as initial condition, also the interdiffusion coefficient is obtained as function of concentration and temperature. As in the random alloy case (i.e., a noninteracting ABV-model) no simple relation between self-diffusion and interdiffusion is found. Unlike this model mean field theory cannot describe interdiffusion, however, even if the necessary Onsager coefficients are estimated via simulation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

A Novel Predictive Tool in Nanoengineering: Straightforward Estimation of Superconformal Filling Efficiency

It is shown that the superconformal filling (SCF) efficiency ($ε_{SCF}$) of nano-scale cavities can be rationalized in terms of relevant physical and geometric parameters. Based on extensive numerical simulations and using the dynamic scaling theory of interface growth, it is concluded that the relevant quantity for the evaluation of $ε_{SCF}$ is the so-called "physical" aspect ratio $S_{P} = L/M^{β/α}$, where $α$ ($β$) is the roughness (growth) exponent that governs the dynamic evolution of the system and $L$ ($M$) is the typical depth (width) of the cavity. The theoretical predictions are in excellent agreement with recently reported experimental data for the SCF of electrodeposited copper and chemically deposited silver in confined geometries, thus giving the basis of a new tool to manage nanoengineering-related problems not completely resolved so far.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗