Related papers: Engineering Morphologies of Metal-Based Colloidal …
The self-assembly of copolymeric vesicles and micelles in micromixers is studied by External Potential Dynamics (EPD) simulations -- a dynamic density functional approach that explicitly accounts for the polymer architecture both at the…
Controlled assembly of active-passive colloidal mixtures offers a route to reconfigurable microscale machines, but their self-assembly pathways remain poorly understood. We study the directed assembly of metallo-dielectric Janus particles…
Surface structure affects the growth, shape and properties of nanoparticles. In wet chemical syntheses, metal additives and surfactants are used to modify surfaces and guide nanocrystal growth. To understand this process, it is critical to…
In this feature article, we provide an overview of our research on statistical copolymers as a coating material for metal oxide nanoparticles and surfaces. These copolymers contain functional groups enabling non-covalent binding to oxide…
Capillary forces guide the motion of biomolecular condensates, water-borne insects, and breakfast cereal. These surface-mediated interactions can be harnessed to build units into materials with exotic properties deriving from mesoscale…
We develop coarse-grained models that describe the dynamic encapsidation of functionalized nanoparticles by viral capsid proteins. We find that some forms of cooperative interactions between protein subunits and nanoparticles can…
Patchy colloids are promising candidates for building blocks in directed self-assembly. To be successful the surface patterns need to both be simple enough to be synthesized, while feature-rich enough to cause the colloids to self-assemble…
Two-dimensional atomic crystals (2DACs) can be mechanically assembled with precision for the fabrication of heterostructures, allowing for the combination of material building blocks with great flexibility. In addition, while conventional…
Rigid, cage-like molecules, like diamondoids, show unique self-assembly behavior, such as templating 1-D nanomaterial assembly via pathways that are typically blocked for such bulky substituents. We investigate molecular forces between…
Entropic forces in colloidal suspensions and in polymer-colloid systems are of long-standing and continuing interest. Experiments show how entropic forces can be used to control the self-assembly of colloidal particles. Significant advances…
Understanding and controlling self-assembly processes at multiple length scales is vital if we are to design and create advanced materials. In particular, our ability to organise matter on the nanoscale has advanced considerably, but still…
We study the effect of Coulomb correlations on the ultrafast optical dynamics of small metal particles. We demonstrate that a surface-induced dynamical screening of the electron-electron interactions leads to quasiparticle scattering with…
Evaporating colloidal droplets have long been used as model systems to understand capillarity, interfacial transport, and particle assembly, most prominently through the coffee ring effect. In classical descriptions, suspended particles are…
Understanding the complexity of fragmentation processes is essential for regulating intercellular communication in mechanistic biology and developing novel bottom-up approaches in a large range of multiphase flow processes. In this context,…
The surprising recent discoveries of quasicrystals and their approximants in soft matter systems poses the intriguing possibility that these structures can be realized in a broad range of nano- and micro-scale assemblies. It has been…
In colloid and nanoparticle chemistry, particle size, shape, crystallinity, surface morphology and composition are controlled by employing the mechanisms of burst nucleation, diffusional growth, aggregation, or their combinations. Here we…
Capillary interactions can be used to direct assembly of particles adsorbed at fluid-fluid interfaces. Precisely controlling the magnitude and direction of capillary interactions to assemble particles into favoured structures for materials…
Colloidal particles grafted with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) chains can self-assemble into a number of different crystalline structures, where hybridization of the ssDNA chains creates links between colloids stabilizing their structure.…
Aggregation processes in systems of planar macromolecules and colloids drive a broad range of phenomena in natural systems and soft materials. Depending on chemical architecture, intermolecular interactions in these systems may favor…
Monolayers of soft colloidal particles confined at fluid interfaces have been attracting increasing interest for fundamental studies and applications alike. However, establishing the relation between their internal architecture, which is…