A microscopic model for colloidal gels with directional effective interactions: network induced glassy dynamics
Abstract
By means of molecular dynamics simulations, we study the structure and the dynamics of a microscopic model for colloidal gels at low volume fractions. The presence of directional interactions leads to the formation of a persistent interconnected network at temperatures where phase separation does not occur. We find that large scale spatial correlations strongly depend on the volume fraction and characterize the formation of the persistent network. We observe a pre-peak in the static structure factor and relate it to the network structure. The slow dynamics at