Related papers: Modeling self-assembly of diblock copolymer-nanopa…
Field-theoretical method is efficient in predicting the assembling structures of polymeric systems. However, for the polymer/nanoparticle mixture, the continuous density description is not suitable to capture the realistic assembly of…
We use a coarse-grained model of DNA-functionalized particles to understand the role of DNA chain length on their self-assembly. We find that the increasing chain length for a given particle size decreases the propensity to form ordered…
The kinetic paths of structural evolution and formation of block copolymer (BCP) particles are explored using dynamic self-consistent field theory (DSCFT). It is shown that the process-directed self-assembly of BCP immersed in a poor…
In the self-assembly process which drives the formation of cellular membranes, micelles, and capsids, a collection of separated subunits spontaneously binds together to form functional and more ordered structures. In this work, we study the…
Biomolecular condensates self-assemble when proteins and nucleic acids spontaneously demix to form droplets within the crowded intracellular milieu. This simple mechanism underlies the formation of a wide variety of membraneless…
The packing geometry of macromolecules in complex mesophases is of key importance to self-organization in synthetic and biological soft materials. While approximate or heuristic models rely on often-untested assumptions about how flexible…
Cells operate in part by compartmentalizing chemical reactions. For example, recent work has shown that chromatin, the material that contains the cell's genome, can auto-regulate its structure by utilizing reaction products (proteins, RNA)…
Dynamic density functionals (DDFs) are popular tools for studying the dynamical evolution of inhomogeneous polymer systems. Here, we present a systematic evaluation of a set of diffusive DDF theories by comparing their predictions with data…
Concentrated solutions of short blunt-ended DNA duplexes, down to 6 base pairs, are known to order into the nematic liquid crystal phase. This self-assembly is due to the stacking interactions between the duplex terminals that promotes…
Self-assembly is traditionally described as the process through which an initially disordered system relaxes towards an equilibrium ordered phase only driven by local interactions between its building blocks. However, This definition is too…
We investigate the effects of chain flexibility on the self-assembly behavior of symmetric diblock copolymers (BCPs) when they are confined as a thin film between two surfaces. Employing worm-like chain (WLC) self-consistent field theory,…
Block copolymer (BCP) melts play a critical role in the design of thermoplastics, owing in large part to the creation of alternating nano-scale domains of soft and stiff components. Considerable attention has been given to the…
Large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are used to simulate a layer of nanoparticles diffusing on the surface of a liquid. Both a low viscosity liquid, represented by Lennard-Jones monomers, and a high viscosity liquid, represented by…
We use molecular dynamics simulations to study a semidilute, unentangled polymer solution containing well dispersed, weakly attractive nanoparticles (NP) of size ($\sigma_N$) smaller than the polymer radius of gyration $R_g$. We find that…
When thin films are grown on a substrate by chemical vapor deposition, the evolution of the first deposited layers may be described, on mesoscopic scales, by dynamical models of the reaction-diffusion type. For monoatomic layers, such…
Motivated by the problem of domain formation in chromosomes, we studied a co--polymer model where only a subset of the monomers feel attractive interactions. These monomers are displaced randomly from a regularly-spaced pattern, thus…
We survey our research on modeling the mechanisms of control of uniformity in growth of nanosize and colloid particles. The former are produced as nanocrystals, by burst-nucleation from solution. The latter, colloid-size particles, are…
Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) and strong segregation theory (SST) are used to explore the parameter space governing the self-assembly of cylinder forming block copolymers (BCPs) on a modulated substrate. The stability of in-plane…
The dynamics of particles interacting by key-lock binding of attached biomolecules are studied theoretically. Examples of such systems include DNA-functionalized colloids as well as nanoparticles grafted with antibodies to cell membrane…
The generation of nanoscale square and stripe patterns is of major technological importance since they are compatible with industry-standard electronic circuitry. Recently, a blend of diblock copolymer interacting via hydrogen-bonding was…