Non-spherical colloids provided with well-defined bonding sites—often referred to as patches—are increasingly attracting the attention of materials scientists due to their ability to spontaneously assemble into tunable surface structures. The emergence of two-dimensional patterns with well-defined architectures is often controlled by the properties of the self-assembling building blocks, which can be either colloidal particles at the nano- and micro-scale or even molecules and macromolecules. In particular, the interplay between the particle shape and the patch topology gives rise to a plethora of tilings, from close-packed to porous monolayers with pores of tunable shapes and sizes. The control over the resulting surface structures is provided by the directionality of the bonding mechanism, which mostly relies on the selective nature of the patches. In the present contribution, we investigate the effect of the patch size on the assembly of a class of anisotropic patchy colloids—namely, rhombic platelets with four identical patches placed in different arrangements along the particle edges. Larger patches are expected to enhance the bond flexibility, while simultaneously reducing the bond selectivity as the single bond per patch condition—which would guarantee a straightforward mapping between local bonding arrangements and long-range pattern formation—is not always enforced. We find that the non-trivial interplay between the patch size and the patch position can either promote a parallel particle arrangement with respect to a non-parallel bonding scenario or give rise to a variety a bonded patterns, which destroy the order of the tilings. We rationalize the occurrence of these two different regimes in terms of single versus multiple bonds between pairs of particles and/or patches.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.