Restructuring a passive colloidal suspension using a rotationally driven particle.

The interaction between passive and active/driven particles has introduced a new way to control colloidal suspension properties from particle aggregation to crystallization. Here, we focus on the hydrodynamic interaction between a single rotational driven particle and a suspension of passive particles near the floor. Using experiments and Stokesian dynamics simulations that account for near-field lubrication, we demonstrate that the flow induced by the driven particle can induce long-ranged rearrangement in a passive suspension.

Controlled Symmetry Breaking in Colloidal Crystal Engineering with DNA.

The programmed crystallization of particles into low-symmetry lattices represents a major synthetic challenge in the field of colloidal crystal engineering. Herein, we report an approach to realizing such structures that relies on a library of low-symmetry Au nanoparticles, with synthetically adjustable dimensions and tunable aspect ratios. When modified with DNA ligands and used as building blocks for colloidal crystal engineering, these structures enable one to expand the types of accessible lattices and to answer mechanistic questions about phase transitions that break crystal symmetry.

Detection of Multiconfigurational States of Hydrogen-Passivated Silicene Nanoclusters.

Utilizing density functional theory (DFT) and a complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) approach,we study the electronic properties of rectangular silicene nano clusters with hydrogen passivated edges denoted by H-SiNCs (n,n), with n and n representing the zigzag and armchair directions, respectively. The results show that in the n direction, the H-SiNCs prefer to be in a singlet (S = 0) ground state for n > n. However, a transition from a singlet (S = 0) to a triplet (S = 1) ground state is revealed for n > n.