Related papers: Complexity, Disorder, and Functionality of Nanosca…
Many systems in nature and the synthetic world involve ordered arrangements of units on two-dimensional surfaces. We review here the fundamental role payed by both the topology of the underlying surface and its detailed curvature. Topology…
Memory effects are ubiquitous in nature and are particularly relevant at the nanoscale where the dynamical properties of electrons and ions strongly depend on the history of the system, at least within certain time scales. We review here…
The arrangements of particles and forces in granular materials have a complex organization on multiple spatial scales that ranges from local structures to mesoscale and system-wide ones. This multiscale organization can affect how a…
The unique plasma-specific features and physical phenomena in the organization of nanoscale solid-state systems in a broad range of elemental composition, structure, and dimensionality are critically reviewed. These effects lead to the…
Spin glasses are disordered magnetic systems that exhibit a variety of properties that are characteristic of complex systems. After a brief review of basic spin glass concepts, their use in areas such as computer science, biology, and other…
The term complexity derives etymologically from the Latin plexus, which means interwoven. Intuitively, this implies that something complex is composed by elements that are difficult to separate. This difficulty arises from the relevant…
Due to their chemical and structural diversity, nanoporous materials can be used in a wide variety of applications, including fluid separation, gas storage, heterogeneous catalysis, drug delivery, etc. Given the large and rapidly increasing…
Physicists study a wide variety of phenomena creating new interdisciplinary research fields by applying theories and methods originally developed in physics in order to solve problems in economics, social science, biology, medicine,…
Colloids are abundant in nature, science and technology, with examples ranging from milk to quantum dots and the "colloidal atom" paradigm. Similarly, liquid crystal ordering is important in contexts ranging from biological membranes to…
Data complexity is an important concept in the natural sciences and related areas, but lacks a rigorous and computable definition. In this paper, we focus on a particular sense of complexity that is high if the data is structured in a way…
Chirality refers to the asymmetry of objects that cannot be superimposed on their mirror image. It is a concept that exists in various scientific fields and has profound consequences. Although these are perhaps most widely recognized within…
We study the build up of complexity on the example of 1 kg matter in different forms. We start on the simplest example of ideal gases, and then continue with more complex chemical, biological, life and social and technical structures. We…
Modern optical systems are subject to very restrictive performance, size and cost requirements. Especially in portable systems size often is the most important factor, which necessitates elaborate designs to achieve the desired…
After decades of work, the growth of continuous thin films, i.e., two-dimensional structures, is progressively becoming a technological issue more than a field of fundamental research. Incidentally self-organization of nanostructures on…
Some of the synthesis methods and physical properties of iron-oxide based magnetic nanoparticles such as Fe3-xO4 and CoxFe3-xO4 are reviewed because of their interest in health, environmental applications, and ultra-high-density magnetic…
Disordered systems like liquids, gels, glasses, or granular materials are not only ubiquitous in daily life and in industrial applications but they are also crucial for the mechanical stability of cells or the transport of chemical and…
As urban critic Jane Jacobs conceived, a city is essentially the problem of organized complexity. What underlies the complexity refers to a structural factor, called living structure, which is defined as a mathematical structure composed of…
Nanotechnologies are attracting increasing investments from both governments and industries around the world, which offers great opportunities to explore the new emerging nanodevices, such as the Carbon Nanotube and Nanosensors. This…
Nanoparticles with "sticky patches" have long been proposed as building blocks for the self-assembly of complex structures. The synthetic realizability of such patchy particles, however, greatly lags behind predictions of patterns they…
Soft materials consist of basic units that are significantly larger than an atom but much smaller than the overall dimensions of the sample. The label "soft condensed matter" emphasizes that the large basic building blocks of these…