Related papers: Competing ordered structures formed by particles w…
A major goal in nanoscience and nanotechnology is the self-assembly of any desired complex structure with a system of particles interacting through simple potentials. To achieve this objective, intense experimental and theoretical efforts…
We apply a simple model system of patchy particles to study monodisperse self-assembly, using the Platonic solids as target structures. We find marked differences between the assembly behaviours of the different systems. Tetrahedra,…
Complex crystal structures are composed of multiple local environments, and how this type of order emerges spontaneously during crystal growth has yet to be fully understood. We study crystal growth across various structures and along…
There is a growing interest, inspired by advances in technology, in the low temperature physics of thin films. These quasi-2D systems show a wide range of ordering effects including formation of striped states, reorientation transitions,…
We report extensive monte-carlo and event-driven molecular dynamics simulations of a liquid composed by particles interacting via hard-sphere interactions complemented by four tetrahedrally coordinated short-range attractive ("sticky")…
We model and study the patterns created through the interaction of collectively moving self-propelled particles (SPPs) and elastically tethered obstacles. Simulations of an individual-based model reveal at least three distinct large-scale…
We perform numerical simulations of a simple model of one-patch colloidal particles to investigate: (i) the behavior of the gas-liquid phase diagram on moving from a spherical attractive potential to a Janus potential and (ii) the…
In this paper, we develop a thermodynamic perturbation theory to describe the self-assembly of patchy colloids which exhibit both patch-patch attractions as well as patch / non-patch attractions. That is, patches attract other patches as…
The dense packing of interacting particles on spheres has proved to be a useful model for virus capsids and colloidosomes. Indeed, icosahedral symmetry observed in virus capsids corresponds to potential energy minima that occur for magic…
Non-equilibrium transport of particles embedded in a liquid crystal host can, by cooling through a phase transition, be exploited to create a remarkable variety of structures including shells, foams, and gels. Due to the complexity of the…
Preserving biodiversity and ecosystem stability is a challenge that can be pursued through modern statistical mechanics modeling. Here we introduce a variational maximum entropy-based algorithm to evaluate the entropy in a minimal ecosystem…
We investigate a class of "shape allophiles" that fit together like puzzle pieces as a method to access and stabilize desired structures by controlling directional entropic forces. Squares are cut into rectangular halves, which are shaped…
Particles that interact via a square-shoulder potential, consisting of an impenetrable hard core with an adjacent, repulsive, step-like corona, are able to self-organize in a surprisingly rich variety of rather unconventional ordered…
Capacitated network bargaining games are popular combinatorial games that involve the structure of matchings in graphs. We show that it is always possible to stabilize unit-weight instances of this problem (that is, ensure that they admit a…
Direct design of complex functional materials would revolutionize technologies ranging from printable organs to novel clean energy devices. However, even incremental steps towards designing functional materials have proven challenging. If…
Inverse Patchy Colloids (IPCs) differ from conventional patchy particles because their patches repel (rather than attract) each other and attract (rather than repel) the part of the colloidal surface that is free of patches. These…
Binary mixture of oppositely charged of colloids can be used to stabilize water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsions. A Monte Carlo simulation study to address the effect of charge ratio of colloids on the stability of Pickering emulsions is…
The microscopic structure of several amorphous substances often reveals complex patterns such as medium- or long-range order, spatial heterogeneity, and even local polycrystallinity. To capture all these features, models usually incorporate…
A competition of incommensurate symmetries occurs whenever a system is forced to conform to an ordering that is different from the intrinsically preferred structure of the system itself. As a model system of such a competition, we study the…
The existence of topological order is frequently associated with strongly coupled quantum matter. Here, we demonstrate the existence of topological phases in classical systems of densely packed, hard, anisotropic polyhedrally shaped…