Related papers: Engineering azeotropy to optimize the self-assembl…
Hypothesis: Colloidal molecules with anisotropic shapes and interactions are powerful model systems for deciphering the behavior of real molecules and building units for creating materials with designed properties. While many strategies for…
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…
Controlling anisotropy in self-assembled structures enables engineering of materials with highly directional response. Here, we harness the anisotropic growth of ice walls in a thermal gradient to assemble an anisotropic refractory metal…
Self-assembly in natural and synthetic molecular systems can create complex aggregates or materials whose properties and functionality rises from their internal structure and molecular arrangement. The key microscopic features that control…
Optimizing the synthesis of zeolites and exploring novel frameworks offer pivotal opportunities and challenges in materials design. While inverse design proves highly effective for simpler crystals, its application to intricate structures…
The rapid progress in precisely designing the surface decoration of patchy colloidal particles offers a new, yet unexperienced freedom to create building entities for larger, more complex structures in soft matter systems. However, it is…
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…
The advent of computational statistical disciplines, such as machine learning, is leading to a paradigm shift in the way we conceive the design of new compounds. Today computational science does not only provide a sound understanding of…
Controlled micro- to meso-scale porosity is a common materials design goal with possible applications ranging from molecular gas adsorption to particle size selective permeability or solubility. Here, we use inverse methods of statistical…
Self-assembly is a ubiquitous process in synthetic and biological systems, broadly defined as the spontaneous organization of multiple subunits (e.g. macromolecules, particles) into ordered multi-unit structures. The vast majority of…
Designing protocols to dynamically direct the self-assembly of colloidal particles has become an important direction in soft matter physics because of the promising applications in fabrication of dynamic responsive functional materials.…
Advances in synthetic methods have spawned an array of nanoparticles and bio-inspired molecules of diverse shapes and interaction geometries. Recent experiments indicate that such anisotropic particles exhibit a variety of 'nonclassical'…
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 present a direct method for solving the inverse problem of designing isotropic potentials that cause self-assembly into target lattices. Each potential is constructed by matching its energy spectrum to the reciprocal representation of…
The ability to control forces between sub-micron-scale building blocks offers considerable potential for designing new materials through self-assembly. A typical paradigm is to first identify a particular (crystal) structure that has some…
The self-assembly of binary nanoparticle superlattices from colloidal mixtures is a promising method for the fabrication of complex colloidal co-crystal structures. However, binary mixtures often form amorphous or metastable phases instead…
The ability to design and synthesize ever more complicated colloidal particles opens the possibility of self-assembling a zoo of complex structures, including those with one or more self-limited length scales. An undesirable feature of…
Theories of phase change and self-assembly often invoke the idea of a `quasiequilibrium', a regime in which the nonequilibrium association of building blocks results nonetheless in a structure whose properties are determined solely by an…
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 use analytic theory and computer simulation to study patterns formed during the growth of two-component assemblies in 2D and 3D. We show that these patterns undergo a nonequilibrium phase transition, at a particular growth rate, between…