Ordering hard-sphere particle suspensions by medium crystallization: Effect of size and interaction strength*

While microstructure in soft materials is usually given by the self-assembly of their constituting building blocks, colloidal assembly can also be obtained via templating a morphology in a disordered suspension of particles by solidification of the melt. This sweep-templating process is applicable in different soft matter systems with a variety of characteristic length scales, including particle suspensions in water, liquid crystal materials, and polymer melts. Here, I numerically investigate the effect of particle-size and solvent-size in the process of solidification templating by implementing a simple coarse-grain model for the kinetics of hard-sphere particles at the melt/crystal interface. Results show that the threshold speed for solidification templating trails a power-form as size changes. Furthermore, this work analyzes and reports the effect of particle-crystal interaction strength in combination with size effects. This scaling study from a numerical perspective sets a starting point for the development of hybrid soft materials via structural templating, allowing solidification-driven particle ordering in different systems with length-scales that range from a few tens of nanometers to microns and centimeters.