Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase
Self-assembly of microscopic building blocks into highly ordered and functional structures is ubiquitous in nature and found at all length scales. Hierarchical structures formed by colloidal building blocks are typically assembled from monodisperse particles interacting via engineered directional in...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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National Academy of Sciences
2021
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| _version_ | 1797083918059438080 |
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| author | Fernández-Rico, C Dullens, RPA |
| author_facet | Fernández-Rico, C Dullens, RPA |
| author_sort | Fernández-Rico, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Self-assembly of microscopic building blocks into highly ordered and functional structures is ubiquitous in nature and found at all length scales. Hierarchical structures formed by colloidal building blocks are typically assembled from monodisperse particles interacting via engineered directional interactions. Here, we show that polydisperse colloidal bananas self-assemble into a complex and hierarchical quasi–two-dimensional structure, called the vortex phase, only due to excluded volume interactions and polydispersity in the particle curvature. Using confocal microscopy, we uncover the remarkable formation mechanism of the vortex phase and characterize its exotic structure and dynamics at the single-particle level. These results demonstrate that hierarchical self-assembly of complex materials can be solely driven by entropy and shape polydispersity of the constituting particles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:48:19Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:9932c5b0-213f-4f15-b824-ddee12cced52 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:48:19Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9932c5b0-213f-4f15-b824-ddee12cced522022-03-27T00:12:29ZHierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phaseJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:9932c5b0-213f-4f15-b824-ddee12cced52EnglishSymplectic ElementsNational Academy of Sciences2021Fernández-Rico, CDullens, RPASelf-assembly of microscopic building blocks into highly ordered and functional structures is ubiquitous in nature and found at all length scales. Hierarchical structures formed by colloidal building blocks are typically assembled from monodisperse particles interacting via engineered directional interactions. Here, we show that polydisperse colloidal bananas self-assemble into a complex and hierarchical quasi–two-dimensional structure, called the vortex phase, only due to excluded volume interactions and polydispersity in the particle curvature. Using confocal microscopy, we uncover the remarkable formation mechanism of the vortex phase and characterize its exotic structure and dynamics at the single-particle level. These results demonstrate that hierarchical self-assembly of complex materials can be solely driven by entropy and shape polydispersity of the constituting particles. |
| spellingShingle | Fernández-Rico, C Dullens, RPA Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title | Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title_full | Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title_fullStr | Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title_full_unstemmed | Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title_short | Hierarchical self-assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two-dimensional vortex phase |
| title_sort | hierarchical self assembly of polydisperse colloidal bananas into a two dimensional vortex phase |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fernandezricoc hierarchicalselfassemblyofpolydispersecolloidalbananasintoatwodimensionalvortexphase AT dullensrpa hierarchicalselfassemblyofpolydispersecolloidalbananasintoatwodimensionalvortexphase |