Self-assembly of amphiphilic peanut-shaped nanoparticles

2009/07/31 by Stephen Whitelam, Stefan A. F. Bon · 39 citations
Chemistry · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Amphiphile #Amphiphilic molecule #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Micelle #Molecular dynamics #Nanoparticle #Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization #Surfactants and Colloidal Systems #cond-mat.soft

paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3316794

published in The Journal of Chemical Physics 132(7), 074901 (American Institute of Physics)

openalex publication_date 2010/02/16 · arxiv created 2010/02/19 · arxiv updated 2010/02/26 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We use computer simulation to investigate the self-assembly of Janus-like amphiphilic peanut-shaped nanoparticles, finding phases of clusters, bilayers, and micelles in accord with ideas of packing familiar from the study of molecular surfactants. However, packing arguments do not explain the hierarchical self-assembly dynamics that we observe, nor the coexistence of bilayers and faceted polyhedra. This coexistence suggests that experimental realizations of our model can achieve multipotent assembly of either of two competing ordered structures.

Citations

• Self-assembly of patchy particles into polymer chains: A parameter-free comparison between Wertheim theory and Monte Carlo simulation
• Design and Self-Assembly of Open, Regular, 3D Mesostructures
• Reversible self-assembly of patchy particles into monodisperse icosahedral clusters
• Faceting ionic shells into icosahedra via electrostatics

Cited by

• Self-assembly of patchy colloidal dumbbells