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Self-Assembly of Optimally Packed Cylindrical Clusters inside Spherical Shells

[Image: see text] Systems with short-range attraction and long-range repulsion can form ordered microphases in bulk and under confinement. Using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, we study a colloidal system with competing interactions under confinement in narrow spherical shells at thermodyna...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Serna, Horacio, Meyra, Ariel G., Noya, Eva G., Góźdź, Wojciech T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2022
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483920/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36047942
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c04850
Descripción
Sumario:[Image: see text] Systems with short-range attraction and long-range repulsion can form ordered microphases in bulk and under confinement. Using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, we study a colloidal system with competing interactions under confinement in narrow spherical shells at thermodynamic conditions at which the hexagonal phase of cylindrical clusters is stable in bulk. We observe spontaneous formation of different ordered structures. The results of the simulations are in a very good agreement with the predictions of a simple mathematical model based on the geometry and optimal packing of colloidal clusters. The results of the simulations and the explanation provided by a relatively simple geometric model may be helpful in manufacturing copolymer nanocapsules and may indicate possible ways of coiling DNA strands on spherical objects.