Dynamical inversion of the energy landscape promotes non-equilibrium self-assembly of binary mixtures.

ABSTRACT: When driven out of equilibrium, many diverse systems can form complex spatial and dynamical patterns, even in the absence of attractive interactions. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, we investigate the phase behavior of a binary system of particles of dissimilar size confined between semiflexible planar surfaces, in which the nanoconfinement introduces a non-local coupling between particles, which we model as an activation energy barrier to diffusion that decreases with the local fraction of the larger particle. The system autonomously reaches a cyclical non-equilibrium state characterized by the formation and dissolution of metastable micelle-like clusters with the small particles in the core and the large ones in the surrounding corona. The power spectrum of the fluctuations in the

SUBMITTER: Pestana LR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5887813 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature