(756a) Self-Assembly of Switchable Colloids

With recent developments in experimental techniques, we can start to consider the synthesis and fabrication of switchable building blocks that can dynamically switch between two or more states and assemble into novel structures. In this work, we present some novel steady-state structures predicted by computer simulation to assemble in systems of switchable building blocks. We discuss tools for characterizing the resulting patterns, explore approaches to analyze the dissipative nature of the system, and provide a mapping to experimental colloidal systems where these concepts could be implemented.

This material is based in part upon work supported as part of the Non-Equilibrium Energy Research Center (NERC), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0000989.