The Self-Assembly of Particles with Isotropic Interactions
Abstract
A generic field-theoretic model for the self-assembly of particles with isotropic interactions,
motivated by ideas in DNA-mediated colloidal assembly, is presented. A simplest possible
system of colloids in explicit solvent is examined to determine the ability of non-connected
particles to form complex nanometre or micron scale equilibrium structures in the absence of
confounding kinetic effects. It is found that non-trivial morphologies are possible and that, for
this effectively one component system, these parallel the phases of diblock copolymer melts
for certain parameter choices, despite the absence of connectivity or packing frustration in the
model. An explanation for the morphological similarity between these architecturally disparate
systems is given. For other parameter choices, it is found that meta-stable and defected phases
become more common, and that similarity with block copolymer morphologies decreases.
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Cite this version of the work
K. von Konigslow, E. D. Cardenas-Mendez, Russell Thompson
(2013).
The Self-Assembly of Particles with Isotropic Interactions. UWSpace.
http://hdl.handle.net/10012/10346
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