Shaping the Behavior of Colloidal Fluids

The behavior of colloidal suspensions depends upon many factors, including the shape of the colloidal particles. In this talk, we discuss the influence of shape on the thermodynamics and kinetics of hard particle fluids, including how shape is manifested in equations of state and in phase transitions from fluid to solid form. We present new results on the nucleation and growth of colloidal crystals, where subtle changes in particle shape can have profound influence on thermodynamics and kinetic processes.

*with J. Anderson, J. Antonaglia, A. Cadotte, E. Chen, P. Damasceno, J. Dshemuchadse, M. Engel, J. Glaser, E. Harper, E. Irrgang, A. Karas, D. Klotsa, D. Kofke, R. Newman, S. Nola, A. Schultz, and W. Shen.