Pre-solid-solid transition on the surface of colloidal crystal

Yilong Han^1*

¹Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong, Hong Kong

* Presenter:Yilong Han, email:yilong@ust.hk

Analogous to premelting and prefreezing, we propose the third type of surface wetting phenomenon as a phase-transition precursor and named it as pre-solid-solid transition, i.e. a surface polymorphic crystal formed before reaching the solid-solid transition. We confirm it in colloid experiment and simulation, and attribute it to the lower-energy coherent interface. This thermal equilibrium behavior can also exist in nonequilibrium processes of melting, crystallization, and polycrystal annealing. We suggested several atomic and molecular polymorphic crystals which may exhibit the pre-solid-solid transition.

References: X. Wang, B. Li, M. Li, and Y. Han, Nat. Phys. 19, 700-705 (2023)

Keywords: wetting, phase-transition precursor, colloidal crystal, surface phenomenon, soft matter