Related papers: Thermofluidic non-equilibrium assembly of reconfig…

We prove that by successively combining subassemblies, we can achieve sublinear construction times for "staged" assembly of micro-scale objects from a large number of tiny particles, for vast classes of shapes; this is a significant advance…

Self-assembly is one of the prevalent strategies used by living systems to fabricate ensembles of precision nanometer-scale structures and devices. The push for analogous approaches to create synthetic nanomaterials has led to the…

The fabrication of versatile building blocks that are reliably self-assemble into desired ordered and disordered phases is amongst the hottest topics in contemporary material science. To this end, microscopic units of varying complexity,…

We study here how phase transitions are induced in colloidal suspensions by a point-like heat source, an optically trapped metal oxide particle absorbing light. We find that thermophoresis increases the number density of colloids around the…

A thermodynamically consistent model of non-classical coupled non-linear thermoelasticity capable of accounting for thermal wave propagation is proposed. The heat flux is assumed to consist of both additive energetic and dissipative…

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…

Controlling the topology of structures self-assembled from a set of heterogeneous building blocks is highly desirable for many applications, but is poorly understood theoretically. Here we show that the thermodynamic theory of self-assembly…

We explore the idea that non-equilibrium steady states breaking detailed balance are obtained by deforming trajectories (lines in space-time) that have been sampled in a reference system with stochastic dynamics obeying detailed balance,…

The thermal conductivity of nanoparticles colloidal suspensions, submitted to the action of an external force field has been calculated by non equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. For driven forces in the radio frequency and…

Achieving control over the motion of dissolved particles in liquid metals is of importance for the meticulous realization of hierarchical particle assemblies in a variety of nanofabrication processes. Brownian forces can impede the motion…

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…

Active bodies in viscous fluids interact hydrodynamically through self-generated flows. Here we study spontaneous aggregation induced by hydrodynamic flow in a suspension of stiff, apolar, active filaments. Lateral hydrodynamic attractions…

In equilibrium self-assembly, microscopic building blocks spontaneously self-organize into stable structures as dictated by their interaction potentials, which limits the accessible structural features to those that correspond to global…

We theoretically investigate equilibrium behaviors and photothermal effects of a flexible plasmonic metamaterial composed of aramid nanofibers and gold nanoparticles. The fiber matrix is considered as an external field to reconfigure a…

Colloidal molecules are designed to mimic their molecular analogues through their anisotropic shape and interactions. However, current experimental realizations are missing the structural flexibility present in real molecules thereby…

In self-assembling systems, geometric frustration leads to complex states characterized by internal gradients of shape misfit. Frustrated assemblies have drawn recent interest due to the unique possibility that their thermodynamics can…

Building structures with hierarchical order through the self-assembly of smaller blocks is not only a prerogative of nature, but also a strategy to design artificial materials with tailored functions. We explore in simulation the…

Shaping the structure of light with flat optical devices has driven significant advancements in our fundamental understanding of light and light-matter interactions, and enabled a broad range of applications, from image processing and…

Inspired by the quest for shape-shifting structures in a range of applications, we show how to create morphable structural materials using a neutrally stable unit cell as a building block. This unit cell is a self-stressed hinged structure…

Self-assembly is a process which is ubiquitous in natural, especially biological systems. It occurs when groups of relatively simple components spontaneously combine to form more complex structures. While such systems have inspired a large…