6533b7cffe1ef96bd1258d16

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Spinodal Decomposition Kinetics of Colloid-Polymer Mixtures Including Hydrodynamic Interactions

subject

description

The phase separation dynamics of a model colloid-polymer mixture is studied by taking explicitly the hydrodynamic interactions caused by the solvent into account. Based on the studies on equilibrium phase behavior we perform a volume quench from the homogeneous region of the phase diagram deep into the region where colloid-rich and polymer-rich phases coexist. We demonstrate that the Multiparticle Collision Dynamics (MPCD) algorithm is well suited to study spinodal decomposition and present first results on the domain growth behavior of colloid-polymer mixtures in quasi two-dimensional confinement. On the one hand side we find that the boundary condition of the solvent with respect to the repulsive walls strongly influences the phase separation dynamics and on the other hand we show that the wetting behavior of the system leads to changes in the demixing pattern morphology over time and hence affects the domain growth laws.