biostudies-literatureKing EMDOD | USN | Office of Naval Research (ONR)DOD | USN | Office of Naval ResearchNational Science Foundation (NSF)National Science Foundatione2311891121https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC11228463biostudies-literatureUnknown121(27)Direct design of complex functional materials would revolutionize technologies ranging from printable organs to novel clean energy devices. However, even incremental steps toward designing functional materials have proven challenging. If the material is constructed from highly complex components, the design space of materials properties rapidly becomes too computationally expensive to search. On the other hand, very simple components such as uniform spherical particles are not powerful enough to capture rich functional behavior. Here, we introduce a differentiable materials design model with components that are simple enough to design yet powerful enough to capture complex materials properties: rigid bodies composed of spherical particles with directional interactions (patchy particles). WProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaProgramming patchy particles for materials assembly design.PMC11228463DGE17453032112085N00014-17-1-3029DMR-192169Schoenholz SSZhu QZBrenner MPDu CXKing EMfalseProgramming patchy particles for materials assembly design.Direct design of complex functional materials would revolutionize technologies ranging from printable organs to novel clean energy devices. However, even incremental steps toward designing functional materials have proven challenging. If the material is constructed from highly complex components, the design space of materials properties rapidly becomes too computationally expensive to search. On the other hand, very simple components such as uniform spherical particles are not powerful enough to capture rich functional behavior. Here, we introduce a differentiable materials design model with components that are simple enough to design yet powerful enough to capture complex materials properties: rigid bodies composed of spherical particles with directional interactions (patchy particles). W2024-01-01T00:00:00Z2024 Jul2025-04-26T05:40:51.892Z2025-04-06T11:34:03.242ZS-EPMC112284633891389110.1073/pnas.2311891121