title: Self-assembly of catalytically active colloidal molecules: tailoring activity through surface chemistry.
abstract: A heterogeneous and dilute suspension of catalytically active colloids is studied as a nonequilibrium analogue of ionic systems, which has the remarkable feature of action-reaction symmetry breaking. Symmetrically coated colloids are found to join up to form self-assembled molecules that could be inert or have spontaneous activity in the form of net translational velocity and spin depending on their symmetry properties and their constituents. The type of activity can be adjusted by changing the surface chemistry and ambient variables that control the surface reactions and the phoretic drift.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas Universidad de Chile, Avenida Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, Chile and Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3NP, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ramin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Golestanian