Irreversible aggregation of patchy colloidal particles : a computer simulation study

The versatility of self assembling structures is mostly due to the presence of anisotropic interactions. We present a new simulation method to study irreversible patchy aggregation of spherical particles. It is a variation of the Brownian Cluster Dynamics method taking into account patchy interactions and rotational motions. We limit our case to particles with two oppositely located patches. The size of patches can vary and an isotropic interaction is superimposed around the particle to mimic step-polymerization with various solvent qualities. This new algorithm was successfully tested on single polymer chains and expected static and dynamic properties were recovered. Depending on the balance between solvent quality and patch size various out of equilibrium morphologies could be obtained. Even in the limit dilute solutions, correlated collisions play a key role and the Smoluchowski approach fails. We propose new directions for a better understanding of anisotropy effects on kinetics.