Structural Emergence in Nanoparticle Dispersions*

The emergence of complex structures from simple building blocks is often seen in nature such as in the organization of starling flocks. Nanomaterials also display emergent structures such as the filler network and higher order structures in reinforced elastomers and complex hierarchical structures of pigments in printed inkjet ink. Small angle scattering of x-rays from semi-dilute dispersions of nanoparticles can be modeled using a pseudo-thermodynamic approach to describe structural emergence. Recent work will be discussed that has led to a new understanding of structural emergence in nanoparticle dispersions.

This presentation is in honor of Joon Roe.

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Structural emergence in particle dispersions A. Mulderig, et al. Submitted Langmuir (2017).
Thermodynamic stability of worm-like micelle solutions K. Vogtt, et al. Soft Matter 13 (2017) 6068-6078.