Related papers: Topological defect engineering enables size and sh…
The self-assembly of nanocrystals enables new classes of materials whose properties are controlled by the periodicities of the assembly, as well as by the size, shape and composition of the nanocrystals. While self-assembly of spherical…
Properties of engineering materials are generally influenced by defects such as point defects (vacancies, interstitials, substitutional defects), line defects (dislocations), planar defects (grain boundaries, free surfaces/nanostructures,…
The geometric, aesthetic, and mathematical elegance of origami is being recognized as a powerful pathway to self-assembly of micro and nano-scale machines with programmable mechanical properties. The typical approach to designing the…
In recent years there have been a number of proposals to utilize the specificity of DNA based interactions for potential applications in nanoscience. One interesting direction is the self-assembly of micro- and nanoparticle clusters using…
Additive manufacturing (AM) enables enormous freedom for design of complex structures. However, the process-dependent limitations that result in discrepancies between as-designed and as-manufactured shapes are not fully understood. The…
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…
Topological defects in systems with liquid-crystalline order are crucial in determining their large-scale properties. In active systems, they are known to have properties impossible at equilibrium: for example, $+1/2$ defects in…
Nucleation is the rate-determining step in the kinetics of many self-assembly processes. However, the importance of nucleation in the kinetics of DNA-origami self-assembly, which involves both the binding of staple strands and the folding…
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…
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…
Nanoparticles tethered with DNA strands are promising building blocks for bottom-up nanotechnology, and a theoretical understanding is important for future development. Here we build on approaches developed in polymer physics to provide…
Self-assembly, the process by which interacting components form well-defined and often intricate structures, is typically thought of as a spontaneous process arising from equilibrium dynamics. When a system is driven by external…
DNA nanotechnology promises to provide controllable self-assembly on the nanoscale, allowing for the design of static structures, dynamic machines and computational architectures. In this article I review the state-of-the art of DNA…
Topological defects are one of the most conspicuous features of liquid crystals. In two dimensional nematics, they have been shown to behave effectively as particles with both, charge and orientation, which dictate their interactions. Here,…
In order to optimize a self-assembly reaction, it is essential to understand the factors that govern its pathway. Here, we examine the influence of nucleation pathways in a model system for addressable, multicomponent self-assembly based on…
Liquid crystals generally support orientational singularities of the director field known as topological defects. These latter modifiy transport properties in their vicinity as if the geometry was non-Euclidean. We present a state of the…
Helium accumulation in structural ceramics used in nuclear, fusion, and aerospace systems causes swelling, cracking, and early failure, yet controlling this damage has remained elusive. Here, we introduce defect landscape engineering, the…
The architecture of mechanical metamaterialsis designed to harness geometry, non-linearity and topology to obtain advanced functionalities such as shape morphing, programmability and one-way propagation. While a purely geometric framework…
Achieving deterministic control over the properties of low-dimensional materials with nanoscale precision is a long-sought goal. Mastering this capability has a transformative impact on the design of multifunctional electrical and optical…
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…