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 has only a weak metastability 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)]