Designing Surface Charge Patterns for Shape Control of Deformable Nanoparticles

NE Brunk and JCS Kadupitiya and V Jadhao, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 125, 248001 (2020).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.248001

Designing reconfigurable materials based on deformable nanoparticles (NPs) hinges on an understanding of the energetically favored shapes these NPs can adopt. Using simulations, we show that hollow, deformable, patchy NPs tailored with surface charge patterns such as Janus patches, stripes, and polyhedrally distributed patches differently adapt their shape in response to changes in patterns and ionic strength, transforming into capsules, hemispheres, variably dimpled bowls, and polyhedra. The links between anisotropy in NP surface charge, shape, and the elastic energy density are discussed.

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