title: Hierarchical self-assembly of soft disklike particles under shear flow.
abstract: We develop a mesoscale nonequilibrium simulation model to study the effect of steady shear on the hierarchical self-assembly of soft disklike particles in dilute solutions. By properly tuning shear rates and solvent conditions, soft disklike particles can self-assemble into flexible threads and bundle-like structures along the flow direction. Shear flow facilitates the self-assembly of soft disklike particles into one-dimensional long threads along the flow direction; however, it suppresses the formation of flexible bundles from the threads while decreasing the solvent quality. The relatively well-defined bundle structures along the flow direction can only be obtained when the solvent condition becomes even worse. Our study elucidates how the solvent condition and shear rate can be utilized to control the shear-induced self-assembled structures, which would enable designed nanofabrication.
authors: Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, China.
authors: Xiao-Xi
authors: XX
authors: Jia
authors: Zhan-Wei
authors: ZW
authors: Li
authors: Zhao-Yan
authors: ZY
authors: Sun
authors: Zhong-Yuan
authors: ZY
authors: Lu