Related papers: Designing patchy interactions to self-assemble arb…
Starting with the early alchemists, a holy grail of science has been to make desired materials by modifying the attributes of basic building blocks. Building blocks that show promise for assembling new complex materials can be synthesized…
We show how standard Metadynamics coupled with classical Molecular Dynamics can be successfully ap- plied to sample the configurational and free energy space of metallic and bimetallic nanopclusters via the implementation of collective…
The progress of realizing colloidal structures mimicking natural forms of organization in condensed matter is inherently limited by the availability of suitable colloidal building blocks. To enable new forms of crystalline and…
Experimental and theoretical studies of colloidal nanoparticles have primarily focused on accurate characterization and simulation of observable characteristics, such as resonant wavelength. In this Letter, we tackle the optimal design of…
The structure of nanoclusters is complex to describe due to their noncrystallinity, even though bonding and packing constraints limit the local atomic arrangements to only a few types. A computational scheme is presented to extract…
We demonstrate that nascent polymer crystals (i.e., nuclei) are anisotropic entities, with neither spherical nor cylindrical geometry, in contrast to previous assumptions. In fact, cylindrical, spherical, and other high symmetry geometries…
We study the self-assembly behaviour of patchy particles with `protein-like' interactions that can be considered as a minimal model for the assembly of viral capsids and other shell-like protein complexes. We thoroughly explore the…
De novo crystal generation, a central task in materials discovery, aims to generate crystals that are simultaneously valid, stable, unique, and novel. Existing methods mainly rely on black-box stochastic sampling, providing limited control…
The design of complex materials and the formation of specific patterns often arise from the properties of the individual building blocks. In this respect, colloidal systems offer a unique opportunity because nowadays they can be synthesized…
Biomolecules composed of a limited set of chemical building blocks can co-localize into distinct, spatially segregated compartments known as biomolecular condensates. While many condensates are known to form spontaneously via phase…
Micrometre sized colloidal particles can be viewed as large atoms with tailorable size, shape and interactions. These building blocks can assemble into extremely rich structures and phases, in which the thermal motions of particles can be…
Point defects in self-assembled crystals, such as vacancies and interstitials, attract each other and form stable clusters. This leads to a phase separation between perfect crystalline structures and defect conglomerates at low…
Sophisticated statistical mechanics approaches and human intuition have demonstrated the possibility to self-assemble complex lattices or finite size constructs, but have mostly only been successful in silico. The proposed strategies quite…
Biological motors are marvels of nature that inspire creation of their synthetic counterparts with comparable nanoscale dimensions, high efficiency and diverse functions. Molecular motors have been synthesized, but obtaining nanomotors…
High quality metal thin films and nanostructures are critical building blocks for next generation nanotechnologies. They comprise low-loss circuit elements in nanodevices, provide new catalytic pathways for water splitting and $CO_2$…
Self-assembly is the mechanism that controls the formation of well defined structures from disordered pre-existing parts. Despite the importance of self-assembly as a manufacturing method and the increasingly large number of experimental…
Designing particles that are able to form icosahedral quasicrystals (IQCs) and that are as simple as possible is not only of fundamental interest but is also important to the potential realization of IQCs in materials other than metallic…
We propose a unifying, analytical theory accounting for the self-organization of colloidal systems in nano- or micro-cluster phases. We predict the distribution of cluter sizes with respect to interaction parameters and colloid…
There is a growing need for biolabels that can be used in both optical and electron microscopies, are non-cytotoxic, and do not photobleach. Such biolabels could enable targeted nanoscale imaging of sub-cellular structures, and help to…
Assembly of colloidal particles on fluid interfaces is a promising technique for synthesizing two-dimensional micro-crystalline materials useful in fields as diverse as biomedicine1, materials science2, mineral flotation3 and food…