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Anisotropy of building blocks and their assembly into complex structures

Nature Materials volume 6, pages 557–562 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

A revolution in novel nanoparticles and colloidal building blocks has been enabled by recent breakthroughs in particle synthesis. These new particles are poised to become the ‘atoms’ and ‘molecules’ of tomorrow’s materials if they can be successfully assembled into useful structures. Here, we discuss the recent progress made in the synthesis of nanocrystals and colloidal particles and draw analogies between these new particulate building blocks and better-studied molecules and supramolecular objects. We argue for a conceptual framework for these new building blocks based on anisotropy attributes and discuss the prognosis for future progress in exploiting anisotropy for materials design and assembly.

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Figure 1: Representative examples of recently synthesized anisotropic particle building blocks.
Figure 2: Anisotropy ‘dimensions’ used to describe key anisotropy attributes of particles.
Figure 3: Anisotropy axis E, branching, applied to three distinct kinds of particle.
Figure 4: Combining a ‘minimal’ set of dimensions of particle anisotropy can generate many new building blocks for self-assembly.

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Acknowledgements

S.C.G. acknowledges support from DoE, NSF and NASA. M.J.S. acknowledges support from NASA and NSF. We are grateful to C. R. Iacovella in the Glotzer group for his graphic artistry in rendering the figures.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

    Sharon C. Glotzer & Michael J. Solomon

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2136, USA

    Sharon C. Glotzer

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Glotzer, S., Solomon, M. Anisotropy of building blocks and their assembly into complex structures. Nature Mater 6, 557–562 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1949

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