Hierarchical self-organization of soft patchy nanoparticles into morphologically diverse aggregates
- Author(s)
- Ioana C. Garlea, Emanuela Bianchi, Barbara Capone, Lorenzo Rovigatti, Christos N. Likos
- Abstract
We present a concise review of the large variety of self-assembly scenarios observed in solutions of diblock copolymer stars with a solvophilic inner block and a solvophobic outer block. A variety of modeling approaches and simulation techniques at different levels of detail reveals that individual molecules assume configurations akin to patchy colloids, but with a patchiness that depends on physical parameters and can adjust to external stimuli such as temperature and pH. These soft, patchy building blocks inter-associate at finite concentrations into micellar or gel-like solutions, including spherical and wormlike micelles, or they display macroscopic phase separation. The connections between single-molecule conformation and the structure of the concentrated solution are discussed, and coarse-grained strategies for these novel molecular entities are critically compared to one another.
- Organisation(s)
- Computational and Soft Matter Physics
- External organisation(s)
- Technische Universität Wien, University of Oxford
- Journal
- Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science
- Volume
- 30
- Pages
- 1-7
- No. of pages
- 7
- ISSN
- 1359-0294
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cocis.2017.03.008
- Publication date
- 07-2017
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103015 Condensed matter
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Polymers and Plastics, Surfaces and Interfaces, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Colloid and Surface Chemistry
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/975854aa-a541-441d-b84d-4785e551b4fa