Related papers: Nonequilibrium design strategies for functional co…

We study the rheological properties of colloidal microphases in two dimensions simulating a model of colloidal particles with competing interactions. Due to the competition between short-range attraction and long-range repulsion, as a…

Many living and artificial systems show a similar emergent behavior and collective motions on different scales, starting from swarms of bacteria to synthetic active particles, herds of mammals and crowds of people. What all these systems…

Quantifying energy flows at nanometer scales promises to guide future research in a variety of disciplines, from microscopic control and manipulation, to autonomously operating molecular machines. A general understanding of the…

We investigate stresses and particle motion during the start up of flow in a colloidal dispersion close to arrest into a glassy state. A combination of molecular dynamics simulation, mode coupling theory and confocal microscopy experiment…

We propose a general strategy for determining the minimal finite amplitude isturbance to trigger transition to turbulence in shear flows. This involves constructing a variational problem that searches over all disturbances of fixed initial…

Competing interactions stabilize exotic mesoscopic structures, yet the microscopic mechanisms by which they influence non-equilibrium processes leading to disordered states remain largely unexplored, despite their critical role in…

We study the coupling between the structural dynamics and rheological response of charged colloidal monolayers at water/oil interfaces, driven into steady shear by a microdisk rotating at a controlled angular velocity. The flow causes…

We present modeling approaches to explain mechanisms of control of uniformity (narrow distribution) of sizes and shapes in synthesis of nanosize crystals and micron-size colloids. We consider those situations when the nanocrystals are…

Using a minimal hydrodynamic model, we theoretically and computationally study active gels in straight and annular two-dimensional channels subject to an externally imposed shear. The gels are isotropic in the absence of externally- or…

The nonequilibrium dynamical behavior and structure formation of end-functionalized semiflexible polymer suspensions under flow are investigated by mesoscale hydrodynamic simulations. The hybrid simulation approach combines the…

Collective guidance of out-of-equilibrium systems without using external fields is a challenge of paramount importance in active matter, ranging from bacterial colonies to swarms of self-propelled particles. Designing strategies to guide…

We demonstrate a simple method by which time-dependent interactions can be exploited to improve self-assembly in colloidal systems. We apply this method to two systems: a model colloid with short-ranged attractive potentials that undergoes…

We investigate the influence of a shear flow on the process of nucleation. Mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics is used to derive the Fokker-Planck equation governing the evolution of the cluster size distribution in a metastable phase…

DNA-coated particles are promising as building blocks for functional and finite-sized assemblies because they can be programmed with orthogonal interactions owing to the sequence-specific hybridization of DNA strands. To fully exploit this…

Just like atoms combine into molecules, colloids can self-organize into predetermined structures according to a set of design principles. Controlling valence -- the number of inter-particle bonds -- is a prerequisite for the assembly of…

Tunable composite materials with interesting physical behavior can be designed through integrating unique optical properties of solid nanostructures with the facile responses of soft matter to weak external stimuli, but this approach…

Directed assembly of block polymers is rapidly becoming a viable strategy for lithographic patterning of nanoscopic features. One of the key attributes of directed assembly is that an underlying chemical or topographic substrate pattern…

Periodic assemblies of nanoparticles are central to surface patterning, with applications in biosensing, energy conversion, and nanofabrication. Evaporation of colloidal droplets on substrates provides a simple yet effective route to…

Phase separation driven by nonequilibrium fluctuations is a hallmark of both living and synthetic active matter. Unlike equilibrium systems, where ordered states arise from the minimization of free energy, active systems are fueled by a…

Coupling between chemical fuel consumption and phase separation can lead to condensation at a nonequilibrium steady state, resulting in phase behaviors that are not described by equilibrium thermodynamics. Theoretical models of such…