Applied Physics Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Science. 2012 Jul 27;337(6093):453-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1220869.
Predicting structure from the attributes of a material's building blocks remains a challenge and central goal for materials science. Isolating the role of building block shape for self-assembly provides insight into the ordering of molecules and the crystallization of colloids, nanoparticles, proteins, and viruses. We investigated 145 convex polyhedra whose assembly arises solely from their anisotropic shape. Our results demonstrate a remarkably high propensity for thermodynamic self-assembly and structural diversity. We show that from simple measures of particle shape and local order in the fluid, the assembly of a given shape into a liquid crystal, plastic crystal, or crystal can be predicted.
从材料组成单元的属性预测其结构仍然是材料科学的一个挑战和核心目标。分离组成单元形状在自组装中的作用，可以深入了解分子的有序排列和胶体、纳米颗粒、蛋白质和病毒的结晶。我们研究了 145 个凸多面体，它们的组装仅源于各向异性的形状。研究结果表明，它们具有极高的热力学自组装倾向和结构多样性。我们表明，通过颗粒形状和流体中局部顺序的简单度量，可以预测给定形状在液体晶体、塑料晶体或晶体中的组装。
