Templated self-assembly of patchy particles

Abstract

We explore the use of templated self-assembly to facilitate the formation of complex target structures made from patchy particles. First, we consider the templating of high-symmetry shell structures around a spherical core particle. We find that nucleation around the core particle can inhibit aggregate formation, a process which often hinders self-assembly. In particular, this new assembly pathway allows dodecahedral shells to form readily, whereas these structures never form in the absence of the template. Secondly, we consider the self-assembly of multi-shell structures, where the central icosahedral core is known to form readily on its own, and which could then template the growth of further layers. We are able to find conditions under which two- and three-shell structures successfully assemble, illustrating the power of the templating approach.

11 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• The Statistical Mechanics of Dynamic Pathways to Self-assembly
• Formation of dodecagonal quasicrystals in two-dimensional systems of patchy particles
• Computing phase diagrams for a quasicrystal-forming patchy-particle system
• Self-assembly scenarios of patchy colloidal particles
• Facetted patchy particles through entropy-driven patterning of mixed ligand SAMS
• Self-assembly of two-dimensional binary quasicrystals: A possible route to a DNA quasicrystal
• Inferring bulk self-assembly properties from simulations of small systems with multiple constituent species and small systems in the grand canonical ensemble
• Influence of Fluctuating Membranes on Self-Assembly of Patchy Colloids
• Self Assembled Clusters of Spheres Related to Spherical Codes
• Dynamics of Self-Assembly of Model Viral Capsids in the Presence of a Fluctuating Membrane
• Competing ordered structures formed by particles with a regular tetrahedral patch decoration
• Hierarchical assembly is more robust than egalitarian assembly in synthetic capsids
• Stabilizing quasicrystals composed of patchy colloids by narrowing the patch width