2020/01/02 by Carina Karner, Christoph Dellago, Karner, Carina +3
Materials Science · #FOS: Physical sciences #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2001.00373
openalex publication_date 2020/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Anisotropy at the level of the inter-particle interaction provides the particles with specific instructions for the self-assembly of target structures. The ability to synthesize non-spherical colloids, together with the possibility of controlling the particle bonding pattern via suitably placed interaction sites, is nowadays enlarging the playfield for materials design. We consider a model of anisotropic colloidal platelets with regular rhombic shape and two attractive sites placed along adjacent edges and we run Monte Carlo simulations in two-dimensions to investigate the two-stage assembly of these units into clusters with well-defined symmetries and, subsequently, into extended lattices. Our focus is on how the site positioning and site-site attraction strength can be tuned to obtain micellar aggregates that are robust enough to successively undergo to a second-stage assembly from sparse clusters into a stable hexagonal lattice.