Limiting the valence: advancements and new perspectives on patchy colloids, soft functionalized nanoparticles and biomolecules

Author(s)
Emanuela Bianchi, Barbara Capone, Ivan Coluzza, Lorenzo Rovigatti, Peter D. J. van Oostrum
Abstract

Limited bonding valence, usually accompanied by well-defined directional interactions and selective bonding mechanisms, is nowadays considered among the key ingredients to create complex structures with tailored properties: even though isotropically interacting units already guarantee access to a vast range of functional materials, anisotropic interactions can provide extra instructions to steer the assembly of specific architectures. The anisotropy of effective interactions gives rise to a wealth of self-assembled structures both in the realm of suitably synthesized nano- and micro-sized building blocks and in nature, where the isotropy of interactions is often a zero-th order description of the complicated reality. In this review, we span a vast range of systems characterized by limited bonding valence, from patchy colloids of new generation to polymer-based functionalized nanoparticles, DNA-based systems and proteins, and describe how the interaction patterns of the single building blocks can be designed to tailor the properties of the target final structures.

Organisation(s)
Computational and Soft Matter Physics
External organisation(s)
Technische Universität Wien, Università Degli Studi Roma Tre, University of Oxford, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
Journal
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Volume
19
Pages
19847-19868
No. of pages
22
ISSN
1463-9076
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cp03149a
Publication date
08-2017
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
103015 Condensed matter
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
General Physics and Astronomy, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/0377ef37-e0e4-4053-ba98-96475d23df62