24 June 2016
The cover of the June 24 (2016) issue of Physical Review Letters features a graphical representation of research by Utrecht PhD student Giuseppe Soligno and his supervisors Marjolein Dijkstra (DINS) and Rene van Roij (ITP).
In their Letter in this issue the authors present calculations of the adsorption of nanocubes on fluid-fluid interfaces. The interface deformations generated by the cubes is predicted to drive a self-assembly process into two-dimensional hexagonal and (graphene-like) honeycomb lattices of the cubic particles.
(Top left) Equilibrium position of a cubic particle adsorbed at a fluid-fluid interface. The blue grid shows the interface shape.
(Top right) Contour plot of the interface where red is high and blue is low.
(Bottom) Hexagonal and honeycomb lattices formed by cubes interacting via dipole-dipole (left) and tripole-tripole (right) interactions.
Self-Assembly of Cubes into 2D Hexagonal and Honeycomb Lattices by Hexapolar Capillary Interactions
Giuseppe Soligno, Marjolein Dijkstra, and René van Roij
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 258001 (2016)