Diffusion and sedimentation in colloidal suspensions using multiparticle collision dynamics with a discrete particle model

Abstract

We study self-diffusion and sedimentation in colloidal suspensions of nearly-hard spheres using the multiparticle collision dynamics simulation method for the solvent with a discrete mesh model for the colloidal particles (MD+MPCD). We cover colloid volume fractions from 0.01 to 0.40 and compare the MD+MPCD simulations to Brownian dynamics simulations with free-draining hydrodynamics (BD) as well as pairwise far-field hydrodynamics described using the Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa mobility tensor (BD+RPY). The dynamics in MD+MPCD suggest that the colloidal particles are only partially coupled to the solvent at short times. However, the long-time self-diffusion coefficient in MD+MPCD is comparable to that in BD and BD+RPY, and the sedimentation coefficient in MD+MPCD is in good agreement with that in BD+RPY, suggesting that MD+MPCD gives a reasonable description of the hydrodynamic interactions in colloidal suspensions. The discrete-particle MD+MPCD approach is convenient and readily extended to more complex shapes, and we determine the long-time self-diffusion coefficient in suspensions of nearly-hard cubes to demonstrate its generality.