Anisotropic particles with tetrahedral symmetry
The phase diagram of tetrahedral, patchy particles [1] exhibits the following solid phases: Diamond Crystal (DC), Body Centered Cubic (BCC) and Face Centered Cubic (FCC). The gas-liquid critical point becomes metastable with respect to the Diamond Crystal when the range of the interaction becomes short (roughly less than 15% of the diameter).
By contrast to isotropic models, the critical point becomes only weakly metastable with respect to the solid as the interaction range narrows (from left to right in the figure).
References
- ↑ [http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp9081905 F. Romano, E. Sanz and F. Sciortino "Role of the Range in the Fluid−Crystal Coexistence for a Patchy Particle Model", J. Phys. Chem. B 113 pp. 15133–15136 (2009)]