We outline a basic strategy of how self-propulsion can be used to improve the yield of a typical colloidal self-assembly process. The success of this approach is predicated on the thoughtful design of the colloidal building block as well as how self-propulsion is endowed to the particle. As long as a set of criteria are satisfied, it is possible to significantly increase the rate of self-assembly, and greatly expand the window in parameter space where self-assembly can occur. In addition, we show that by tuning the relative on-off time of the self-propelling force it is possible to modulate the effective speed of the colloids allowing for further optimization of the self-assembly process.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.94.022607 | DOI Listing |
Langmuir
January 2025
Cain Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
The self-assembly of nanoparticle colloids into large-area monolayers with long-range order is a grand challenge in nanotechnology. Using acoustic energy, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFood Chem
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Dairy Science, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China; Key Laboratory of Infant Formula Food, State Administration for Market Regulation, Harbin 150030, China; Food Laboratory of Zhongyuan, Luohe 462300, China. Electronic address:
Processed cheese faces challenges related to short shelf life and susceptibility to microbial contamination during room temperature storage. Nisin, a natural antimicrobial peptide used for food preservation, exhibits limited sustained activity and a narrow antimicrobial spectrum, making its enhancement essential. To address these issues, this study employed electrostatic self-assembly technology to develop chitosan-pectin nanoparticles loaded with nisin (CNP) to improve processed cheese stability at room temperature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Soc Rev
January 2025
Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
DNA is not only a centrally important molecule in biology: the specificity of bonding that allows it to be the primary information storage medium for life has also allowed it to become one of the most promising materials for designing intricate, self-assembling structures at the nanoscale. While the applications of these structures are both broad and highly promising, the self-assembly process itself has attracted interest not only for the practical applications of designing structures with more efficient assembly pathways, but also due to a desire to understand the principles underlying self-assembling systems more generally, of which DNA-based systems provide intriguing and unique examples. Here, we review the fundamental physical principles that underpin the self-assembly process in the field of DNA nanotechnology, with a specific focus on simulation and modelling and what we can learn from them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNanoscale
January 2025
State Key Lab of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China.
Solving the assembled structure of Au(I)-thiolate linear coordination polymers has been a challenging task as they generally lack good crystallinity. This has prevented the elucidation of their assembly processes at the molecular level. In this paper, selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns of two-dimensional (2D) Au(I)-S(CH)COOH (Au(I)-MPA) lamellae are obtained by applying cryogenic transmission electron microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Institut für Theoretische Physik, TU Wien, Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A-1040 Wien, Austria.
In recent years, experimental and theoretical investigations have shown that anisotropic colloids can self-organize into ordered porous monolayers, where the interplay of localized bonding sites, so-called patches, with the particle's shape is responsible for driving the systems away from close-packing and toward porosity. Until now it has been assumed that patchy particles have to be fully bonded with their neighboring particles for crystals to form, and that, if full bonding cannot be achieved due to the choice of patch placement, disordered assemblies will form instead. In contrast, we show that by deliberately displacing the patches such that full bonding is disfavored, a different route to porous crystalline monolayers emerges, where geometric frustration and partial bonding are decisive process.
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