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Zuo M, Song Q, Hajiyeva N, Lerch H, Bolten J, Plachetka U, Lemme MC, Schönherr H. Effect of Particle Size on the Orientation and Order of Assemblies of Functionalized Microscale Cubes Formed at the Water/Air Interface. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2023. [PMID: 37310799 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The impact of the particle size and wettability on the orientation and order of assemblies obtained by self-organization of functionalized microscale polystyrene cubes at the water/air interface is reported. An increase in the hydrophobicity of 10- and 5-μm-sized self-assembled monolayer-functionalized polystyrene cubes, as assessed by independent water contact angle measurements, led to a change of the preferred orientation of the assembled cubes at the water/air interface from face-up to edge-up and further to vertex-up, irrespective of microcube size. This tendency is consistent with our previous studies with 30-μm-sized cubes. However, the transitions among these orientations and the capillary force-induced structures, which change from flat plate to tilted linear and further to close-packed hexagonal arrangements, were observed to shift to larger contact angles for smaller cube size. Likewise, the order of the formed aggregates decreased significantly with decreasing cube size, which is tentatively attributed to the small ratio of inertial force to capillary force for smaller cubes in disordered aggregates, which results in more difficulties to reorient in the stirring process. Experiments with small fractions of larger cubes added to the water/air interface increased the order of smaller homo-aggregates to values similar to neat 30 μm cube assemblies. Hence, collisions of larger cubes or aggregates are shown to play a decisive role in breaking metastable structures to approach a global energy minimum assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengdi Zuo
- Physical Chemistry I and Research Center of Micro and Nanochemistry and (Bio)Technology (Cμ), Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
| | - Qimeng Song
- Physical Chemistry I and Research Center of Micro and Nanochemistry and (Bio)Technology (Cμ), Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
| | - Nigar Hajiyeva
- Physical Chemistry I and Research Center of Micro and Nanochemistry and (Bio)Technology (Cμ), Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
| | - Holger Lerch
- AMO GmbH, Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mikro- und Optoelektronik mbH, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Jens Bolten
- AMO GmbH, Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mikro- und Optoelektronik mbH, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ulrich Plachetka
- AMO GmbH, Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mikro- und Optoelektronik mbH, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Max C Lemme
- AMO GmbH, Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mikro- und Optoelektronik mbH, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 25, 52074 Aachen, Germany
- Chair of Electronic Devices, RWTH Aachen University, Otto-Blumenthal-Straße 2, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Holger Schönherr
- Physical Chemistry I and Research Center of Micro and Nanochemistry and (Bio)Technology (Cμ), Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Str. 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
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Zhang Y, Giunta G, Liang H, Dijkstra M. Shape-induced crystallization of binary DNA-functionalized nanocubes. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:2890487. [PMID: 37172219 DOI: 10.1063/5.0148139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 05/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Leveraging the anisotropic shape of DNA-functionalized nanoparticles holds potential for shape-directed crystallization of a wide collection of superlattice structures. Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we study the self-assembly of a binary mixture of cubic gold nanoparticles, which are functionalized by complementary DNA strands. We observe the spontaneous self-assembly of simple cubic (SC), plastic body-centered tetragonal (pBCT), and compositionally disordered plastic body-centered tetragonal (d-pBCT) phases due to hybridization of the DNA strands. We systematically investigate the effect of length, grafting density, as well as rigidity of the DNA strands on the self-assembly behavior of cubic nanoparticles. We measure the potential of mean force between DNA-functionalized nanocubes for varying rigidity of the DNA strands and DNA lengths. Using free-energy calculations, we find that longer and flexible DNA strands can lead to a phase transformation from SC to the pBCT phase due to a gain in entropy arising from the orientational degrees of freedom of the nanocubes in the pBCT phase. Our results may serve as a guide for self-assembly experiments on DNA-functionalized cubic nanoparticles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yunhan Zhang
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China
- Soft Condensed Matter, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Giuliana Giunta
- Soft Condensed Matter, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Haojun Liang
- Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Chemistry, iChEM (Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China
| | - Marjolein Dijkstra
- Soft Condensed Matter, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Morgan SO, Muravitskaya A, Lowe C, Adawi AM, Bouillard JSG, Horozov TS, Stasiuk GJ, Buzza DMA. Using adsorption kinetics to assemble vertically aligned nanorods at liquid interfaces for metamaterial applications. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:11000-11013. [PMID: 35467675 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp05484h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Vertically aligned monolayers of metallic nanorods have a wide range of applications as metamaterials or in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy. However the fabrication of such structures using current top-down methods or through assembly on solid substrates is either difficult to scale up or have limited possibilities for further modification after assembly. The aim of this paper is to use the adsorption kinetics of cylindrical nanorods at a liquid interface as a novel route for assembling vertically aligned nanorod arrays that overcomes these problems. Specifically, we model the adsorption kinetics of the particle using Langevin dynamics coupled to a finite element model, accurately capturing the deformation of the liquid meniscus and particle friction coefficients during adsorption. We find that the final orientation of the cylindrical nanorod is determined by their initial attack angle when they contact the liquid interface, and that the range of attack angles leading to the end-on state is maximised when nanorods approach the liquid interface from the bulk phase that is more energetically favorable. In the absence of an external field, only a fraction of adsorbing nanorods end up in the end-on state (≲40% even for nanorods approaching from the energetically favourable phase). However, by pre-aligning the metallic nanorods with experimentally achievable electric fields, this fraction can be effectively increased to 100%. Using nanophotonic calculations, we also demonstrate that the resultant vertically aligned structures can be used as epsilon-near-zero and hyperbolic metamaterials. Our kinetic assembly method is applicable to nanorods with a range of diameters, aspect ratios and materials and therefore represents a versatile, low-cost and powerful platform for fabricating vertically aligned nanorods for metamaterial applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- S O Morgan
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
| | - A Muravitskaya
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
| | - C Lowe
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
| | - A M Adawi
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
| | - J-S G Bouillard
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
| | - T S Horozov
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
| | - G J Stasiuk
- Imaging Chemistry & Biology, King's College London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK
| | - D M A Buzza
- Department of Physics & Mathematics, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK.
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Tyowua AT, Targema M, Ubuo EE. Salt-induced edible anisotropic Pickering emulsion droplets. J DISPER SCI TECHNOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/01932691.2022.2055564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Terhemen Tyowua
- Applied Colloid Science and Cosmeceutical Group, Department of Chemistry, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria
| | - Msugh Targema
- Applied Colloid Science and Cosmeceutical Group, Department of Chemistry, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria
| | - Emmanuel Etim Ubuo
- Department of Chemistry, Akwa Ibom State University, Mkpat Enin, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
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Davies T, Raufaste C. Effect of gravity on the orientation and detachment of cubic particles adsorbed at soap film or liquid interfaces. SOFT MATTER 2021; 17:6964-6971. [PMID: 34251006 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm00793a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We investigate the interaction that occurs between a light solid cube falling under gravity and a horizontal soap film that is pinned to a circular ring. We observe in both experiments and quasi-static simulations that the final orientation of a cube that becomes entrapped by a soap film is strongly dependent on the Bond number. A cube is rotated by a soap film into one of three main orientations in a process that is driven by energy minimisation. The likelihood of observing each of these final orientations is shown to depend on the Bond number, and the most energetically favourable orientation depends on the terminal height reached by the cube. We also find a critical value for the Bond number, above which a cube is no longer supported by a soap film and detachment occurs, to be less than one.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tudur Davies
- Department of Mathematics, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3BZ, UK.
| | - Christophe Raufaste
- Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS UMR 7010, Institut de Physique de Nice, Parc Valrose, 06100 Nice, France and Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), 75005 Paris, France
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