Related papers: A Design Path for Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Pa…
Using large deviation theory and principles of stochastic optimal control, we show that rare molecular dynamics trajectories conditioned on assembling a specific target structure encode a set of interactions and external forces that lead to…
We report observations of the self-assembly of coated droplets into regular clusters at the sudden expansion of a microfluidic channel. A double emulsion consisting of a regular train of coated microdroplets was created upstream of the…
The Pattern self-Assembly Tile set Synthesis (PATS) problem is to determine a set of coloured tiles that self-assemble to implement a given rectangular colour pattern. We give an exhaustive branch-and-bound algorithm to find tile sets of…
At the cutting edge of materials science, matter is designed to self-organize into structures that perform a wide range of functions. The past two decades have witnessed major innovations in the versatility of building blocks, ranging from…
Colloidal self-assembly allows rational design of structures on the micrometer and submicrometer scale. One architecture that can generate complete 3D photonic band gaps is the diamond cubic lattice, which has remained difficult to realize…
Aggregating base elements into rigid objects such as furniture or sculptures is a great way for designers to convey a specific look and feel. Unfortunately, there is no existing solution to help model structurally sound aggregates. The…
Self-assembly of colloidal particles is a promising avenue to control the shape and dynamics of larger aggregates. However, achieving the necessary fine control over the dynamics and specificity of the bonds between such particles remains a…
The properties and applications of metallic nanoparticles are inseparably connected not only to their detailed morphology and composition, but also to their structural configuration and mutual interactions. As a result, the assemblies often…
Controlling the topology of structures self-assembled from a set of heterogeneous building blocks is highly desirable for many applications, but is poorly understood theoretically. Here we show that the thermodynamic theory of self-assembly…
Creating materials with structure that is independently controllable at a range of scales requires breaking naturally occurring hierarchies. Breaking these hierarchies can be achieved via the decoupling of building block attributes from…
Multilevel self-assembly involving small structured groups of nano-particles provides new routes to development of functional materials with a sophisticated architecture. Apart from the inter-particle forces, the geometrical shapes and…
We study theoretically a new generic scheme of programmable self-assembly of nanoparticles into clusters of desired geometry. The problem is motivated by the feasibility of highly selective DNA-mediated interactions between colloidal…
Complex nonequilibrium self-assembly enables the formation of materials with specific patterns and functions from the bottom up. How to directionally control the assembly to form the target configuration is a challenge. Here, we propose a…
Self-organized complex structures in nature, e.g. viral capsids, hierarchical biopolymers, and bacterial flagella, offer efficiency, adaptability, robustness, and multi-functionality. Can we program the self-assembly of three-dimensional…
Self-assembling peptides (SAPs) have the ability to spontaneously assemble into ordered nanostructures enabling the manufacture of "designer" nanomaterials. The reversible molecular association of SAPs has been shown to offer great promise…
Effective colloid-colloid interactions can be tailored through the addition of a complex cosolute. Here we investigate the case of a cosolute made by self-assembling patchy particles. Depending on the valence, these particles can form…
Controlling the size and shape of assembled structures is a fundamental challenge in self-assembly, and is highly relevant in material design and biology. Here, we show that specific, but promiscuous, short-range binding interactions make…
Formation of highly ordered structures usually needs to overcome a high free-energy barrier that is greatly beyond the ability of thermodynamic fluctuation, such that the system would be easily trapped into a state with many defects and the…
Conventional wisdom presumes that low-coordinated crystal ground states require directional interactions. Using our recently introduced optimization procedure to achieve self-assembly of targeted structures (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 228301…
Block copolymer self-assembly is a fundamental process in which incompatible blocks spontaneously form organized microstructures with broad practical applications. Classical understanding is that the domain spacing is limited by the contour…