相关论文: Entropy driven key-lock assembly
Quantitative predictions are presented of a depletion-induced torque and force acting on a single colloidal hard rod immersed in a solvent of hard spheres close to a planar hard wall. This torque and force, which are entirely of entropic…
We study the depletion-induced self-assembly of indented colloids. Using state-of-the-art Monte Carlo simulation techniques that treat the depletant particles explicitly, we demonstrate that colloids assemble by a lock-and-key mechanism,…
Grafting linkers with open ends of complementary single-stranded DNA makes a flexible tool to tune interactions between colloids,which facilitates the design of complex self-assembly structures. Recently, it has been proposed to coat…
Self-assembly is the autonomous organization of components into patterns or structures: an essential ingredient of biology and a desired route to complex organization. At equilibrium, the structure is encoded through specific interactions,…
The self-assembly of hard polyhedral particles confined to a flat interface is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The particles are pinned to the interface by restricting their movement in the direction perpendicular to it while…
Monodisperse spherical colloidal particles confined within emulsion droplets can crystallize into icosahedral clusters. Experimentally it was observed that a few large colloidal particles added as defects preferentially migrate to the…
Self-assembly in the laboratory can now yield `information-rich' nanostructures in which each component is of a distinct type and has a defined spatial position. Ensuring the thermodynamic stability of such structures requires…
The fluctuation-induced interaction between two rod-like, rigid inclusions in a fluid vesicle is studied by means of canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. The vesicle membrane is represented by a triangulated network of hard spheres.…
Isotropic pairwise interactions that promote the self assembly of complex particle morphologies have been discovered by inverse design strategies derived from the molecular coarse-graining literature. While such approaches provide an avenue…
The self assembly of core-corona discs interacting via anisotropic potentials is investigated using Monte Carlo computer simulations. A minimal interaction potential that incorporates anisotropy in a simple way is introduced. It consists in…
Inverse design can be a useful strategy for discovering interactions that drive particles to spontaneously self-assemble into a desired structure. Here, we extend an inverse design methodology--relative entropy optimization--to determine…
A self-consistent field theory study of lock and key type interactions between sterically stabilized colloids in polymer solution is performed. Both the key particle and the lock cavity are assumed to have cylindrical shape, and their…
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…
A Monte Carlo method is used in order to simulate the competition between the molecular relaxation and crystallization times in the formation of a glass. The results show that nucleation is avoided during supercooling and produce…
The interaction between a flexible polymer in good solvent and smaller associating solute molecules such as amphiphiles (surfactants) is considered theoretically. Attractive correlations, induced in the polymer because of the interaction,…
Solutes added to solutions often dramatically impact molecular processes ranging from the suspension or precipitation of colloids to biomolecular associations and protein folding. Here we revisit the origins of the effective attractive…
Motivated by recent experimental findings in chemical synthesis of colloidal particles, we draw an analogy between self-assembly processes occurring in biological systems (e.g. protein folding) and a new exciting possibility in the field of…
The ability to control the movement and assembly of particles in liquid crystals is not only an important route to design functional materials, but also sheds light on the mechanisms of colloidal interactions. In this study we place…
In living cells, proteins self-assemble into large functional structures based on specific interactions between molecularly complex patches. Due to this complexity, protein self-assembly results from a competition between a large number of…
Transitions between ``glassy'' local minima of a model free-energy functional for a dense hard-sphere system are studied numerically using a ``microcanonical'' Monte Carlo method that enables us to obtain the transition probability as a…