Abelmann Leon, Hageman Tijmen A G, Löthman Per A, Mastrangeli Massimo, Elwenspoek Miko C
KIST Europe, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands.
Sci Adv. 2020 May 8;6(19):eaba2007. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aba2007. eCollection 2020 May.
Interaction between dipolar forces, such as permanent magnets, generally leads to the formation of one-dimensional chains and rings. We investigated whether it was possible to let dipoles self-assemble into three-dimensional structures by encapsulating them in a shell with a specific shape. We found that the condition for self-assembly of a three-dimensional crystal is satisfied when the energies of dipoles in the parallel and antiparallel states are equal. Our experiments show that the most regular structures are formed using cylinders and cuboids and not by spheroids. This simple design rule will help the self-assembly community to realize three-dimensional crystals from objects in the micrometer range, which opens up the way toward previously unknown metamaterials.
诸如永久磁铁之类的偶极力之间的相互作用通常会导致一维链和环的形成。我们研究了通过将偶极子封装在具有特定形状的壳中来使其自组装成三维结构是否可行。我们发现，当偶极子在平行和反平行状态下的能量相等时，三维晶体的自组装条件就得到了满足。我们的实验表明，使用圆柱体和长方体而非球体能够形成最规则的结构。这一简单的设计规则将有助于自组装领域从微米级物体实现三维晶体，从而为前所未知的超材料开辟道路。
