Nanoparticle assembly and aggregation

Work by Matt Lane and Gary Grest at Sandia to model the self-assembly and aggregation of coated nanoparticles at a water-vapor interface. The terminal groups of a nanoparticle coating can dramatically alter the coating shape at the interface, producing very different assembly morphologies.

The images show side and top views of nanoparticles on the surface of a water layer. The yellow spheres are the gold nanoparticles, the alkane chains (coatings) are in blue/white, and the water in red/white. Some chains are terminated with COOH (polar), others with CH3 (non-polar), which determines their affinity for the surrounding water.