Fig. 3: Triblock symmetry.
From: Anisotropic DLVO-like interaction for charge patchiness in colloids and proteins
a Sketch of the electrostatic potential around a triblock particle, with patch size θ0 defined as the angle of vanishing surface potential. b Point charge distribution of a triblock particle in the ICi model, where \(\bar{a}=a/R\) describes the relative displacement of positive (patch) charges Zp from the centre, referred to as eccentricity. c Electrostatic potential of a single triblock particle with R = 150 nm after potential-matching as a function of the polar angle, at κR = 3 and \(\bar{a}=0.5\). The two models are depicted by solid (ICi) and dashed (CSp) lines. The potential is shown for particles with different total charge, given by parameter η = Ztot/∣Zp∣, where we used Zp = 280e. Dotted lines highlight the patch size θ0 for neutral particles (η = 0). d Patch size θ0 as a function of the distance between the centre and off-centre charges, \(\bar{a}\), in the ICi model at different values of κR. e Orientational pair interaction energy pathways for the ICi and CSp models, shown at three different interparticle distances ρ. The particles are overall neutral (η = 0) and the other parameters are fixed (\(\bar{a}=0.5\), κR = 3).
