Hexagonal vortices enable faster colloidal crystal grain coarsening

Abstract

We find that localized rotations of hexagonal clusters of particles occur during rapid dissolution of grain boundary loops in two-dimensional colloidal crystals. These particle vortices, or rotating "granules," are distinct from established models for grain boundary diffusion, which predict that a crystal grain enclosed within another crystal will dissolve at a constant rate. Our measurements of colloidal crystal experiments and Brownian dynamics simulations reveal grain boundary motion that is described by two distinct processes: slow dissolution due to the diffusion of individual particles, and rapid dissolution due to collective granule rotation. In the latter process, hexagonal clusters of particles rotate together in granules whose shape and position are determined by the underlying moiré pattern. Furthermore, these vortices guide cooperative strings of particles that move along the edges of the hexagonal granules. Including this vortex mechanism may improve models for grain coarsening in polycrystalline materials, ultimately offering improved predictions for the time evolution of material properties.