BINARY HARD-SPHERE COLLOID-DROPLET MIXTURES WITH THE PYRITE-TYPE STRUCTURE

We investigate the assembly of a binary mixture patchy colloids and droplets into crystal structures by use space-filling principle Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations. Here, with six patches in an octahedral symmetry attract droplets, whereas colloid-colloid droplet-droplet pairwise interactions are purely hard-core repulsions. Within parameter space regions that allow for stable crystals, we find formation different structure types, which colloidal analogs NaCl phase pyrite (FeS2) phase, as function droplet-to-colloid sphere diameter ratio. This finding is consistent theoretical predictions. Notably, while type commonly known hard-sphere nanoparticles, FeS2 from dispersion has not been explored. Our approach suggests potential route to obtain crystals more complex structures.