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Modeling the assembly of oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and key-colloids

Stenqvist, Björn LU and Crassous, Jérôme J. LU (2022) In Soft Matter 18(26). p.4983-4990
Abstract

The interactions between oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and spherical key-particles are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations at low volume fractions. The specificity of the interactions is initially investigated in an excess of either lock- or key-particles, and we find ordered clusters with highly directional bonds. This suggests electrostatics alone to be capable of inducing the assembly of specifically bound clusters. Considering different numbers of indentations and number ratios corresponding to perfect lattices (cubic/hexagonal/diamond), we however only find gel-like structures with no tendency to form dense ordered aggregates or lattices. We conjecture that the high entropic cost that comes with specific... (More)

The interactions between oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and spherical key-particles are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations at low volume fractions. The specificity of the interactions is initially investigated in an excess of either lock- or key-particles, and we find ordered clusters with highly directional bonds. This suggests electrostatics alone to be capable of inducing the assembly of specifically bound clusters. Considering different numbers of indentations and number ratios corresponding to perfect lattices (cubic/hexagonal/diamond), we however only find gel-like structures with no tendency to form dense ordered aggregates or lattices. We conjecture that the high entropic cost that comes with specific binding of several keys to a single lock impedes the spontaneous formation of defined lattices at low volume fractions and “lock” the assembly into disordered gel-like structures.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Soft Matter
volume
18
issue
26
pages
8 pages
publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
external identifiers
  • pmid:35757925
  • scopus:85133135945
ISSN
1744-683X
DOI
10.1039/d2sm00182a
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
077cea95-96f1-4304-93f7-a42fec090084
date added to LUP
2022-08-30 13:33:23
date last changed
2024-04-04 11:10:23
@article{077cea95-96f1-4304-93f7-a42fec090084,
  abstract     = {{<p>The interactions between oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and spherical key-particles are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations at low volume fractions. The specificity of the interactions is initially investigated in an excess of either lock- or key-particles, and we find ordered clusters with highly directional bonds. This suggests electrostatics alone to be capable of inducing the assembly of specifically bound clusters. Considering different numbers of indentations and number ratios corresponding to perfect lattices (cubic/hexagonal/diamond), we however only find gel-like structures with no tendency to form dense ordered aggregates or lattices. We conjecture that the high entropic cost that comes with specific binding of several keys to a single lock impedes the spontaneous formation of defined lattices at low volume fractions and “lock” the assembly into disordered gel-like structures.</p>}},
  author       = {{Stenqvist, Björn and Crassous, Jérôme J.}},
  issn         = {{1744-683X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{26}},
  pages        = {{4983--4990}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
  series       = {{Soft Matter}},
  title        = {{Modeling the assembly of oppositely charged multi-indented lock- and key-colloids}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/d2sm00182a}},
  doi          = {{10.1039/d2sm00182a}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}