Related papers: Entropy driven formation of complex crystals in so…
During the last 3 years, our group has investigated extensively the complexation mechanism between neutral-polyelectrolyte block copolymers with oppositely charged species. These species are surfactant micelles, multivalent counterions and…
Exact calculations of collective excitations and charge/spin (pseudo)gaps in an ensemble of bipartite and nonbipartite clusters yield level crossing degeneracies, spin-charge separation, condensation and recombination of electron charge and…
Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study computational self-assembly of one-component three-dimensional dodecagonal (12-fold) quasicrystals in systems with two-length-scale potentials. Existing criteria for three-dimensional…
Entropic forces play a fundamental role in nanoscale phenomena, from colloidal self-assembly to biomolecular disaggregation. Here, we develop an exact analytical theory and find general scaling laws for the entropic separation of…
We present a phase field theory for binary crystal nucleation. In the one-component limit, quantitative agreement is achieved with computer simulations (Lennard-Jones system) and experiments (ice-water system) using model parameters…
We propose a simple theoretical model which explains a formation of dipolar 2D and 3D colloidal structures in nematic liquid crystal. Colloidal particles are treated as effective hard spheres interacting via their elastic dipole, quadrupole…
The systems of molecules with a permanent dipole moment have solid phases with various crystal symmetries. In particular, the solid phases of the simplest of these systems, the dipolar hard sphere model, have been extensively studied in the…
Soft matter systems are common in nature and make up nearly all the essential components necessary for life, from cells to the organelles within those cells. The ability of these soft materials to deform is crucial for the proper…
Advancements in the synthesis of faceted nanoparticles and colloids have spurred interest in the phase behavior of polyhedral shapes. Regular tetrahedra have attracted particular attention because they prefer local symmetries that are…
Various experimental settings that involve drying solutions or suspensions of nanoparticles -- often called nanofluids -- have recently been used to produce structured nanoparticle layers. In addition to the formation of polygonal networks…
Complex colloidal cluster morphologies are desirable for the fabrication of advanced materials, such as photonic crystals and meta-materials, and can be formed through evaporation-driven packing. By coupling lattice Boltzmann and discrete…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
We use hexagonal mesophases made of oil-swollen surfactant-stabilized tubes arranged on a triangular lattice in water and doped with metallic salts as templates for the radiolytic synthesis of nanostructures. The nanostructures formed in…
The evaporation of drops of colloidal suspensions plays an important role in numerous contexts, such as the production of powdered dairies, the synthesis of functional supraparticles, and virus and bacteria survival in aerosols or drops on…
Monte Carlo computer simulations of a quasi two dimensional (2D) dipolar fluid at low and intermediate densities indicate that the structure of the fluid is well described by an ideal mixture of self-assembling clusters. A detailed analysis…
At low temperatures ultrasoft particle systems develop interesting phases via the self-assembly of particle clusters. In this study we develop a general zero-temperature analysis fully characterizing the ground state of such models in two…
We report the results from a computational study of the self-assembly of amphiphilic di-tethered nanospheres using molecular simulation. As a function of the interaction strength and directionality of the tether-tether interactions, we…
We model the stabilization of clusters and lattices of cuboidal particles with long-ranged magnetic dipolar and short-ranged surface interactions. Two realistic systems were considered: one with magnetization orientated in the [001]…
Shape anisotropy of colloidal nanoparticles has emerged as an important design variable for engineering assemblies with targeted structure and properties. In particular, a number of polyhedral nanoparticles have been shown to exhibit a rich…
While evaporating solvent is a widely used technique to assemble nano-sized objects into desired superstructures, there has been limited work on how the assembled structures are affected by the physical aspects of the process. We present…