Engineering the Assembly of Complex Nanoparticle Systems

An important route to advanced, multifunctional materials involves engineering the assembly of collections of building blocks into materials with precision, programmability and personalization. Today, colloidal nanoparticles can be designed and synthesized as multi-material "atoms" with the valency needed to assemble into complex target structures. Unlike electronic valency governing the assembly of atoms through chemical bonding, nanoparticle valency arises from particle shape and both physical and entropic bonds – both of which can be designed and engineered with the appropriate anisotropy. In this talk, we show how enthalpic and entropic patchiness – acting together or alone -- leads to structures of extraordinary diversity, complexity and utility that can be predicted using simulation and simple design rules. We also reveal parallels between assembly processes in colloidal vs. atomic crystals.