Vinothan Manoharan
Harvard
Monday, March 12, 2012
4:30 p.m.
Cardwell 102
Self-assembly refers to any thermodynamic process in which a bunch of particles (molecules, biomolecules, polymers, colloids) come together in solution to form an ordered structure. In living things it is a widely used and robust manufacturing method: DNA, RNA and proteins spontaneously form three dimensional structures with a high degree of order and specificity. By contrast, most synthetic systems do not assemble robustly. In this talk I will discuss experiments on simple systems that allow us to probe the physics and thermodynamics of self-assembly. We use systems consisting of small numbers (N <= 12) of confined spherical colloidal particles to understand what physical parameters (interactions) determine how a system will assemble. We find that the probability of self-assembling a particular configuration can be understood in terms of the geometry of sphere packings. The geometrical model gives some insights into how phase transitions emerge as N approaches the bulk limit. At the same time, it yields some general insights into the design principles for robust self-assembly.