Glassy dynamics and nucleation in liquids and colloids

液体和胶体中的玻璃态动力学和成核

• 批准号: 341451-2012
• 负责人: SaikaVoivod, Ivan
• 金额: $ 1.46万
• 依托单位: Memorial University of Newfoundland
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=572260
• 关键词: Glassy; dynamics; nucleation; liquids; colloids

Why does water freeze so easily, while silica, an analogue to water in several ways, resists freezing and instead forms a glass? How can one use external electric fields to increase the ability of self-assembling colloids to form a single crystal? How can we use computer simulation to optimize the antimicrobial properties of peptides derived from cod? These are some of the questions we pose as we advance our long-term research goal of understanding some general phenomena of simple and tetrahedral liquids: crystal nucleation, glassy dynamics and the interplay between the two, as well as a possible liquid-liquid critical point in liquids like water and silica that can explain their anomalous properties and the existence of multiple glassy phases. These goals also extend to understanding colloidal dynamics and self-assembly. As a secondary aim, we wish to apply the theoretical and computational techniques developed for liquids to macromolecular systems of biological and medical interest. The results of the proposed research may help others understand what the possible structural underpinnings are for glassy liquid behaviour, a hitherto unresolved problem. They may help in the design colloids that either form stable, crystal-free glasses, or crystallize to a single crystal structure, like the cubic diamond structure that holds much promise for photonics applications. Reducing the computational burden required for simulating proteins will help speed up the process of computer-aided drug design.

为什么水如此容易结冰，而二氧化硅，一种在几个方面与水类似的物质，却能抵抗冻结，而是形成玻璃？ 如何利用外部电场来提高胶体自组装形成单晶的能力？ 我们如何使用计算机模拟来优化鳕鱼肽的抗菌性能？ 这些是我们提出的一些问题，因为我们推进我们的长期研究目标，了解简单和四面体液体的一些一般现象：晶体成核，玻璃态动力学和两者之间的相互作用，以及可能的液-液临界点在液体中，如水和二氧化硅，可以解释它们的异常性质和多个玻璃相的存在。 这些目标也延伸到理解胶体动力学和自组装。 作为第二个目标，我们希望将为液体开发的理论和计算技术应用于生物和医学感兴趣的大分子系统。 这项研究的结果可能有助于其他人理解玻璃态液体行为的可能结构基础是什么，这是一个迄今尚未解决的问题。 它们可能有助于设计胶体，要么形成稳定的无晶体玻璃，要么结晶成单晶结构，如立方金刚石结构，这对光子学应用有很大的希望。减少模拟蛋白质所需的计算负担将有助于加快计算机辅助药物设计的过程。