JOURNAL CLUB

摘要

A chemical engineer is struck by the strange properties of 'patchy'colloids. A recent paper about the behaviour of colloids makes an intriguing prediction — suggesting that they can adopt an 'empty' liquid state. I study disordered states of matter, such as liquids and glasses. I find colloids interesting because they make phenomena such as crystal nucleation and the glass transition amenable to direct observation. Nanometre-or micrometre-sized particles suspended in liquids are wonderful model atoms.