ESPCI web site
From colloidal joints to flexible colloidal molecules
Colloidal molecules are designed to mimic their molecular analogues through their anisotropic shape and interactions. However, current experimental realizations are missing the structural flexibility present in real molecules thereby restricting their use as model systems. I will here show how this limitation can be overcome by assembling reconfigurable colloidal molecules in high yields using colloidal joints - silica particles functionalized with mobile DNA linkers and lipid bilayers. I will examine and quantify the various factors that influence the joint flexibility [1] and demonstrate how the self-assembly pathway can be steered towards the formation of finite-sized clusters with tunable valence. [2] I will examine the self-assembly dynamics of these flexible colloidal molecules by a combination of experiments, molecular dynamics simulations and an analytical model to elucidate the growth mechanism quantitatively.[2] Finally, I will discuss how preferential partitioning of the DNA linkers into different phases of the colloid supported lipid bilayer could be a means to implement directional interactions. [3] These reconfigurable colloidal molecules are exciting building blocks for investigating and enabling the self-assembly of complex hierarchical structures, photonic crystals and colloidal meta-materials.
References
[1] I. Chakraborty, V. Meester, C. van der Wel, D.J. Kraft, Nanoscale 10, 3541 (2017)
[2] I. Chakraborty,D.J. Pearce, S. Matysik, L. Giomi, and D.J. Kraft (in preparation)
[3] M. Rinaldin, P. Fonda, L. Giomi, DJ Kraft, Geometric pinning and antimixing in scaffolded lipid vesicles (under review, ArXiv (2018))