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We investigate numerically the role of spatial arrangement of the patches on the irreversible adsorption of patchy colloids on a substrate. We consider spherical three-patch colloids and study the dependence of the kinetics on the opening angle between patches. We show that growth is suppressed below and above minimum and maximum opening angles, revealing two absorbing phase transitions between thick and thin film regimes. While the transition at the minimum angle is continuous, in the directed percolation class, that at the maximum angle is clearly discontinuous. For intermediate values of the opening angle, a rough colloidal network in the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class grows indefinitely. The nature of the transitions was analyzed in detail by considering bond flexibility, defined as the dispersion of the angle between the bond and the center of the patch. For the range of flexibilities considered we always observe two phase transitions. However, the range of opening angles where growth is sustained increases with flexibility. At a tricritical flexibility, the discontinuous transition becomes continuous. The practical implications of our findings and the relation to other nonequilibrium transitions are discussed.

We performed numerical simulations of the q-state Potts model to compute the reduced conductivity exponent t/ν for the critical Coniglio-Klein clusters in two dimensions, for values of q in the range [1,4]. At criticality, at least for q<4, the conductivity scales as C(L) ~ L(-t/ν), where t and ν are, respectively, the conductivity and correlation length exponents. For q=1, 2, 3, and 4, we followed two independent procedures to estimate t/ν. First, we computed directly the conductivity at criticality and obtained t/ν from the size dependence. Second, using the relation between conductivity and transport properties, we obtained t/ν from the diffusion of a random walk on the backbone of the cluster. From both methods, we estimated t/ν to be 0.986 ± 0.012, 0.877 ± 0.014, 0.785 ± 0.015, and 0.658 ± 0.030, for q=1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. We also evaluated t/ν for noninteger values of q and propose the conjecture 40 gt/ν = 72 + 20 g - 3g(2) for the dependence of the reduced conductivity exponent on q, in the range 0 ≤ q ≤ 4, where g is the Coulomb gas coupling.

We performed extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the irreversible adsorption of polydispersed disks inside the cells of a patterned substrate. The model captures relevant features of the irreversible adsorption of spherical colloidal particles on patterned substrates. The pattern consists of (equal) square cells, where adsorption can take place, centered at the vertices of a square lattice. Two independent, dimensionless parameters are required to control the geometry of the pattern, namely, the cell size and cell-cell distance, measured in terms of the average particle diameter. However, to describe the phase diagram, two additional dimensionless parameters, i.e., the minimum and maximum particle radii, are also required. We find that the transition between any two adjacent regions of the phase diagram solely depends on the largest and smallest particle sizes, but not on the shape of the distribution function of the radii. We consider size dispersions up to 20% of the average radius using a physically motivated, truncated, Gaussian-size distribution, and focus on the regime where adsorbing particles do not interact with those previously adsorbed on neighboring cells to characterize the jammed state structure. The study generalizes previous exact relations on monodisperse particles to account for size dispersion. Due to the presence of the pattern, the coverage shows a nonmonotonic dependence on the cell size. The pattern also affects the radius of adsorbed particles, where one observes preferential adsorption of smaller radii, particularly at high polydispersity.

Electro-oxidation of ethanol represents a key process in fuel-cell technology. We introduce a generalization of the random sequential adsorption model to study the long time scale and large length scale properties of the electro-oxidation process. We provide an analytical solution for one dimension and Monte Carlo results in two dimensions. We characterize the coverage and percolation properties of the jammed state and unveil the influence of quenched impurities in the selectivity of oxidation products.

Patchy particles are a class of colloids with functionalized surfaces. Through surface functionalization, the strength and directionality of the colloidal interactions are tunable allowing control over coordination of the particle. Exquisite equilibrium phase diagrams of mixtures of coordination two and three have been reported. However, the kinetics of self-organization and the feasibility of the predicted structures are still largely unexplored. Here, we study the irreversible aggregation of these mixtures on a substrate, for different fractions of two-patch particles. Two mechanisms of mass transport are compared: diffusion and advection. In the diffusive case, an optimal fraction is found that maximizes the density of the aggregate. By contrast, for advective transport, the density decreases monotonically with the fraction of two-patch colloids, in line with the behavior of the liquid density on the spinodal of the equilibrium phase diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patchy colloids with highly directional interactions are ideal building blocks to control the local arrangements resulting from their spontaneous self-organization. Here we propose their use, combined with substrates and nonequilibrium conditions, to obtain structures, different from those of equilibrium thermodynamic phases. Specifically, we investigate numerically the irreversible adhesion of three-patch colloids near attractive substrates, and analyze the fractal network of connected particles that is formed. The network density profile exhibits three distinct regimes, with different structural and scaling properties, which we characterize in detail. The adsorption of a mixture of three- and two-patch colloids is also considered. An optimal fraction of two-patch colloids is found where the total density of the film is maximized, in contrast to the equilibrium gel structures where a monotonie decrease of the density has been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]