A fully solvable equilibrium self-assembly process: fine tuning the clusters size and the connectivity in patchy particle systems

Emanuela Bianchi; Emilia La Nave; Piero Tartaglia; Francesco Sciortino

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arXiv · 0708.1934

A fully solvable equilibrium self-assembly process: fine tuning the clusters size and the connectivity in patchy particle systems

Emanuela Bianchi·Emilia La Nave·Piero Tartaglia·Francesco Sciortino

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Abstract

Self-assembly is the mechanism that controls the formation of well defined structures from disordered pre-existing parts. Despite the importance of self-assembly as a manufacturing method and the increasingly large number of experimental realizations of complex self-assembled nano aggregates, theoretical predictions are lagging behind. Here we show that for a non-trivial self-assembly phenomenon, originating branched loop-less clusters, it is possible to derive a fully predictive parameter-free theory of equilibrium self-assembly by combining the Wertheim theory for associating liquids with the Flory-Stockmayer approach for chemical gelation.

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Emanuela Bianchi, Emilia La Nave, Piero Tartaglia, Francesco Sciortino. 2007-08-14. A fully solvable equilibrium self-assembly process: fine tuning the clusters size and the connectivity in patchy particle systems. https://arxiv.org/abs/0708.1934

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