(393ak) Nanoscale Electrostatics and the Importance of Geometry

The field of electrostatics is thought, by many, to be ‘fully understood’ - however at the nano-scale we continue to discover intriguing and counter-intuitive phenomena.  Here we present the results from a series of recent fundamental studies which investigate the electrostatic interactions between non-spherically symmetric nanoparticles (NPs).  We demonstrate the important role which particle geometry can play in patterning charge density (as well as other chemical properties) on NP surfaces, and how these patterns can lead to complex assemblies that would normally require the influence of external forces (such as a directing electric or magnetic field). Furthermore, we demonstrate the role which charged nanoparticles can play in templating, and mediating the assembly between highly charged, reactive NP species. This mediation lowers and interaction energy barrier between the reactive partices and 'catalyzes' their reaction into a 'nanomolecule'.  The kinetics of reaction can be tuned by altering the electrostatic environments. A mixture of both experimental and theoretical evidence will be presented.