Simulation and Design of Structurally Complex Crystals for Self-Assembly

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During the last years, the technology to synthesize nanoparticles and colloids has advanced rapidly. Today, particles with various types of interactions and almost arbitrary shape can be fabricated. This opens up the possibility to use them as building blocks for assembling materials ‘from bottom up’. For applications, ordered structures are especially desirable, because they are well-defined and show unique physical properties. Previous works concentrated on the growth of crystals with small periodicities. In this project, I want to investigate the potential of nanoparticles for forming materials with geometries as complicated as possible, but at the same time ordered over arbitrary distances. These structurally complex crystals include crystals with large periodicities and aperiodic crystals. They are quite common as atomistic structures, but have so far only rarely been observed on the nanoscale. It is proposed to design new interactions and particle shapes to self-assemble complex crystals that can be used in simulations and future experiments. The results find direct applications in novel materials and help to better understand complex order on the atomic scale.