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Controlling colloidal phase transitions with critical Casimir forces

Author

Listed:
  • Van Duc Nguyen

    (van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam)

  • Suzanne Faber

    (van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam)

  • Zhibing Hu

    (University of North Texas)

  • Gerard H. Wegdam

    (van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam)

  • Peter Schall

    (van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam)

Abstract

The critical Casimir force provides a thermodynamic analogue of the quantum mechanical Casimir force that arises from the confinement of electromagnetic field fluctuations. In its thermodynamic analogue, two surfaces immersed in a critical solvent mixture attract each other due to confinement of solvent concentration fluctuations. Here, we demonstrate the active assembly control of colloidal equilibrium phases using critical Casimir forces. We guide colloidal particles into analogues of molecular liquid and solid phases via exquisite control over their interactions. By measuring the critical Casimir pair potential directly from density fluctuations in the colloidal gas, we obtain insight into liquefaction at small scales. We apply the van der Waals model of molecular liquefaction and show that the colloidal gas–liquid condensation is accurately described by the van der Waals theory, even on the scale of a few particles. These results open up new possibilities in the active assembly control of micro and nanostructures.

Suggested Citation

  • Van Duc Nguyen & Suzanne Faber & Zhibing Hu & Gerard H. Wegdam & Peter Schall, 2013. "Controlling colloidal phase transitions with critical Casimir forces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2597
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2597
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    Cited by:

    1. Gnan, Nicoletta, 2023. "Lecture notes of the 15th international summer school on Fundamental Problems in Statistical Physics: Colloidal dispersions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 631(C).
    2. Gan Wang & Piotr Nowakowski & Nima Farahmand Bafi & Benjamin Midtvedt & Falko Schmidt & Agnese Callegari & Ruggero Verre & Mikael Käll & S. Dietrich & Svyatoslav Kondrat & Giovanni Volpe, 2024. "Nanoalignment by critical Casimir torques," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Joep Rouwhorst & Christopher Ness & Simeon Stoyanov & Alessio Zaccone & Peter Schall, 2020. "Nonequilibrium continuous phase transition in colloidal gelation with short-range attraction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.

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