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Description
Title: | Structural properties and phase behavior in colloidal suspensions |
Author(s): | Barr, Stephen A. |
Director of Research: | Luijten, Erik |
Doctoral Committee Chair(s): | Luijten, Erik |
Doctoral Committee Member(s): | Goldbart, Paul M.; Lewis, Jennifer A.; Schweizer, Kenneth S. |
Department / Program: | Materials Science & Engineerng |
Discipline: | Materials Science & Engr |
Degree Granting Institution: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
Degree: | Ph.D. |
Genre: | Dissertation |
Subject(s): | colloid
computer simulation nanoparticle Monte Carlo molecular dynamics |
Abstract: | In this dissertation I present my research on the effective interactions of colloidal particles induced by a smaller species, as well as the structure of colloidal particles undergoing freeze casting. In this research I have used a wide variety of computational techniques in order to understand these systems. Specifically, in Chapter 2 I study nanoparticle haloing in a system of silica microspheres and highly charged polystyrene nanoparticles. Computer simulations are employed to determine the effective microsphere– microsphere potential induced by the nanoparticles. From these simulations I am also able to determine the degree of nanoparticle adsorption on the microsphere surface. In Chapter 3 I investigate the depletion interaction in a system of charged microspheres and rigid rods. The effect of both rod concentration and screening length is explored. In Chapter 4 I study the effective interactions between charged colloids in the presence of multivalent counterions. The role of colloid charge is investigated and the onset of like-charged attraction is determined and compared with theoretical predictions. In order to study this system, I extended the geometric cluster algorithm to efficiently simulate systems interacting through the Coulomb potential. In Chapter 5 computer simulations are employed to elucidate the experimentally observed crystal phases of the Q and MS-2 virus particles in solution with multivalent salt and non-adsorbing polymer. Freeze casting is studied in Chapter 6. In this process colloidal particles are pushed by an advancing ice front. I use molecular dynamics simulations to study the dynamics of the colloidal particles and the resulting structures formed. iii |
Issue Date: | 2010-08-20 |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16778 |
Rights Information: | Copyright 2010 Stephen A. Barr |
Date Available in IDEALS: | 2010-08-20 |
Date Deposited: | 2010-08 |
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
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Dissertations and Theses - Materials Science and Engineering
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Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois