Particle Self-Organization Under Oscillatory Interaction Potentials

Multiple simulations on colloidal self-assembly have demonstrated that an oscillatory inter-particle potential can alter the self-assembly process, potentially expanding the interaction space that leads to orderly assembly or establishing non-equilibrium steady-state structures that may be inaccessible to equilibrium assembly processes. Previous theoretical work in this area has shown that the assembly dynamics at the limit of fast inter-particle potential oscillations should proceed in the same way as those under the constant interaction potential that is equal to the interaction potential averaged over a single oscillation. In this work, we first use a 2D model of the assembly of a viral-capsid-like structure to confirm this result in our model system. We then work through the implications of that earlier finding for designing novel self-organizing materials via physically realizable interaction potentials.