Abstract
We report three-dimensional structures--mesoscale "atoms"--comprising up to N=8 aqueous droplets compressed in a liquid shell. In contrast to hard colloids that self-assemble into structures unique for a given N, we observe multiple metastable states. We attribute this unexpected richness of metastable structures to the deformability of the cores that introduces irreducible many-body interactions between the droplets. These exotic, often highly anisotropic, structures are locally stable. The structures displaying highly nonoptimum packing-and hence interfacial energy much higher than that of the lowest-energy state-exhibit finite energy barriers that prevent restructuring and relaxation of energy.
Highlights
We report three-dimensional structures—mesoscale “atoms”—comprising up to N 1⁄4 8 aqueous droplets compressed in a liquid shell
In this Letter we show that introduction of an additional degree of freedom into the assembly of small clusters of particles brings in a richness of structures
Deformability of the particles results in irreducible many-body interactions that complicate the energy landscape and create multiple local minima associated with exotic metastable “atoms.” Generation of colloidal atoms is of high interest for their applications in the design of new materials [1] via their selfassembly into superstructures analogous to macromolecules [2,3], ordered 2D lattices [4,5], or fully periodic 3D lattices [6], the latter being useful as potential templates for the synthesis of photonic band gap [7] or porous materials [4,8]
Summary
We report three-dimensional structures—mesoscale “atoms”—comprising up to N 1⁄4 8 aqueous droplets compressed in a liquid shell. It is known that such close-packed structures minimize the second moment of mass and are unique for a given N (for N ≤ 11). Capillary forces generate energy barriers trapping noncompact metastable structures.
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