Transport and diffusion properties of interacting colloidal particles in two-dimensional microchannels with a periodic potential

Abstract

We report a Brownian dynamics simulation study of a two-dimensional system of repulsive colloidal particles in a channel geometry with a sinusoidal substrate potential under influence of a constant driving. The effect of this driving on the structure, mobility, and diffusion is discussed as well as the appearance of kink and antikink solitons. The competing order principles of the hexagonal crystal structure, the period of the substrate, and the layering due to the confining walls can be either commensurable or incommensurable. The combination of those three leads to new effects. The simultaneous occurrence of kinks and antikinks can be observed, due to the energy difference between boundary- and midlanes, and similarities to the electron-hole conductivity in a semiconductor can be found.

Collective transport of Lennard–Jones particles through one-dimensional periodic potentials

“…) ⅆ𝛺 (7) in which, k is the Boltzmann's constant, T is the medium temperature, N is the number of all particles, x is an arbitrary set of coordinates and W(x) is the minimum required reversible work changing the state [31] . Actually, the W(x) includes L-J potential to repel each particle mightily, and that is why to depend the simulation result.…”

“…Siems and Nielaba studied the diffusion and transport of Brownian motion in a twodimensional microchannel, combining periodic potentials and forces. [12] Given biological or soft condensed matter scenarios, both potential barriers and potential wells are of importance, as the external force is tangled in biological ionic channels, nanopores, and zeolites in materials science. [13] Ions in the channel are accelerated or decelerated by electric force arising from electric charges around the ion channel.…”

“…However, the constrained motion is ubiquitous in a more intricate system or model. Ullrich Siems and Peter Nielaba study the diffusion and the transport of Brownian motion in two-dimensional microchannel combining periodic potentials and forces [7] . Given an issue like biological situation or soft condensed matter, both the potential barriers and the potential wells are the important factors operate inevitably so that the external force must be tangled in ionic channels of biology, nanopores and zeolites in materials science [8] .…”

Single-file dynamics of colloids in circular channels: time scales, scaling laws and their universality

“…Geometry and topology, combined with the nature of the interaction between the particles, produce diverse types of effects [15]. For instance, topological defects, as kinks and anti-kinks, emerge when a colloidal monolayer is driven across commensurate and incommensurate substrate potentials [16], as well as in highly dense systems of repulsive colloids in a narrow and periodic channel [17]. In some situations, curvature effects arise in the free diffusion processes over a curved manifolds [18], where curvature becomes a fundamental physical quantity that acts just as an external field would do on the particles.…”