South Engineering 214B
Tel: (701) 231-7036   Fax: (701) 231-7088
E-mail: alan.denton "at" ndsu.edu

RESEARCH FUNDING: National Science Foundation (DMR-0204020,  News Nuggets: 2003, 2004; 2005); ND-EPSCoR; Petroleum Research Fund.

Graduate Research and Teaching Assistantships

Computational Science Graduate Fellowship

TEACHING

THE GROUP

Ben Lu is a Ph.D. student investigating phase behavior of charged colloids and polyelectrolyte solutions by Monte Carlo simulation and statistical mechanical theories.

Emmanuel Mbamala is a postdoctoral fellow investigating colloid-induced polymer shape variations in colloid-polymer mixtures by Monte Carlo simulation.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My current interests center on interparticle interactions, microscopic structure, and macroscopic properties of condensed matter. Systems of interest are primarily soft materials: colloidal suspensions (paints, inks, clays), surfactants (soaps, detergents), and polymers (rubbers, plastics). At times, I have also been known to dabble in metals, quasicrystals, and quantum fluids. Statistical mechanical and computer simulation methods are used to model effective interactions and predict phase transitions.

A recent talk on charged colloids (PDF format).

Current Projects

• Effective Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions

• Charge Renormalization in Charged Colloids

• Phase Behavior of Charged Colloids (with Ben Lu)

• Effective Interactions in Polyelectrolyte Solutions (with Hao Wang)

• Demixing of Colloid-Polymer Mixtures, Colloid-Induced Fluctuations in Polymer Conformation (with Emmanuel Mbamala and Matthias Schmidt)

• Two-Dimensional Dipolar Colloidal Crystals (with Ben Lu):
  Melting (animation), E-Ink (animation)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions in Soft Materials," in Nanostructured Soft Matter: Experiment, Theory, Simulation and Perspectives, ed. A. V. Zvelindovsky, pp. 395-433 (Springer, Dordrecht, 2007).   reprint   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Electroneutrality and Phase Behavior of Colloidal Suspensions," Phys. Rev. E 76 , 051401 (2007).   cond-mat

Ben Lu and Alan R. Denton, "Phase Separation of Charge-Stabilized Colloids: A Gibbs Ensemble Monte Carlo Simulation Study," Phys. Rev. E 75 , 061403 (2007).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Phase Separation in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions: Influence of Nonlinear Screening," Phys. Rev. E 73, 041407 (2006).   cond-mat

Hao Wang and Alan R. Denton, "Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Solutions of Polyelectrolyte Stars with Rigid Rodlike Arms," J. Chem. Phys. 123, 244901-1-9 (2005).   cond-mat

Alan R. Denton and Matthias Schmidt, "Mixtures of Charged Colloid and Neutral Polymer: Influence of Electrostatic Interactions on Demixing and Interfacial Tension," J. Chem. Phys. 122, 2449111-1-7 (2005).   cond-mat

H. Wang and A. R. Denton, "Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Suspensions of Polyelectrolyte Brush-Coated Colloids," Phys. Rev. E 70, 041404-1-8 (2004).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Nonlinear Screening and Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions," Phys. Rev. E 70, 031404-1-18 (2004).   cond-mat (long)   cond-mat (short)

A. R. Denton, "Counterion Penetration and Effective Electrostatic Interactions in Solutions of Polyelectrolyte Stars and Microgels, " Phys. Rev. E 67, 011804-1-10 (2003).   reprint

M. Schmidt, A. R. Denton, and J. M. Brader, "Fluid Demixing in Colloid-Polymer Mixtures: Influence of Polymer Interactions, " J. Chem. Phys. 118, 1541-1549 (2003).   reprint

A. R. Denton and M. Schmidt, "Colloid-Induced Polymer Compression, " J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14, 12051-12062 (2002).   cond-mat

M. Schmidt and A. R. Denton, "Demixing of Colloid-Polymer Mixtures in Poor Solvents," Phys. Rev. E 65, 061410-1-6 (2002).   cond-mat

M. Schmidt and A. R. Denton, "Colloids, Polymers, and Needles: Demixing Phase Behavior," Phys. Rev. E 65, 021508-1-8 (2002).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions and Volume Energies in Charged Colloids: Linear Response Theory," Phys. Rev. E 62, 3855-3864 (2000).   cond-mat

J. Roth and A. R. Denton, "Solid-Phase Structures of the Dzugutov Pair Potential, " Phys. Rev. E 61, 6845-6857 (2000).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, "Effective Interactions and Volume Energies in Charge-Stabilized Colloidal Suspensions," J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 11, 10061-10071 (1999).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, G. Kahl, and J. Hafner, "Freezing of Simple Liquid Metals," J. Non-Crystalline Solids 250-252, 15 (1999).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton and H. Löwen, "Stability of Colloidal Quasicrystals," Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 469-472 (1998).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton and H. Löwen, "Unusual Phase Behaviour from Peculiar Pair Potentials," Prog. Coll. Int. Sci. 104, 160 (1997) [Proceedings of the International Workshop on Optical Methods and the Physics of Colloidal Dispersions, 30.9 -- 1.10.1996, Mainz, Germany]

A. R. Denton and H. Löwen, "Isostructural Solid-Solid Transitions in Square-Shoulder Systems," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, L1 (1997).

A. R. Denton and H. Löwen, "Influence of Short-Range Attractive and Repulsive Interactions on the Phase Behaviour of Model Colloidal Suspensions," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, 8907 (1997).

A. R. Denton and J. Hafner, "Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Metallic Quasicrystals," Europhys. Lett. 38, 189 (1997).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton and J. Hafner, "Thermodynamically Stable One-Component Quasicrystals: A Density-Functional Survey of Relative Stabilities," Phys. Rev. B 56, 2469 (1997).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton, P. Nielaba, and N. W. Ashcroft, "Density-Functional Theory of Quantum Freezing: Sensitivity to Liquid-State Structure and Statistics," J. Phys.: Condens. Matt. 9, 4061 (1997).   cond-mat

A. R. Denton and P. A. Egelstaff, "Implicit Finite-Size Effects in Computer Simulations," Z. Phys. B 103, 343 (1997).   cond-mat

J. J. Salacuse, A. R. Denton, and P. A. Egelstaff, "Finite-Size Effects in Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Static Structure Factor and Compressibility I. Theoretical Method," Phys. Rev. E 53, 2382 (1996).

J. J. Salacuse, A. R. Denton, P. A. Egelstaff, M. Tau, and L. Reatto, "Finite-Size Effects in Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Static Structure Factor and Compressibility II. Application to a Model Krypton Fluid," Phys. Rev. E 53, 2390 (1996).

A. R. Denton, N. W. Ashcroft, and W. A. Curtin, "Density-Functional Approach to the Equation of State of a Hard-Sphere Crystal," Phys. Rev. E 51, 65 (1995).

A. R. Denton, C. G. Gray, and D. E. Sullivan, "Orientational Ordering of Surfactant Monolayers Adsorbed at the Air-Water Interface: Structural Model and Fit to Neutron Reflectivity Data," Chem. Phys. Lett. 219, 310 (1994).