Active Colloidal Assemblies with Rotating Magnetic Fields

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Rice University

One of the most exciting areas in colloid research is the control of interparticle interactions to generate new structures. The ease of tuning interactions, size, shape and composition has made these nano- and micrometer sized particles appealing probes for a number of fundamental studies. Recent work has focused on the use of colloidal particles that can act as models for studying the fundamental phenomena of atomic systems. The self-assembly of these "colloidal atoms" has led to investigations of the dynamics of chemical transformations such as nucleation or phase transitions. I will describe the application of a unique colloidal assembly system, with an isotropic interaction potential, to study material properties, such as phase transitions and melting. Additionally, studies on out of equilibrium phenomena will offer novel dynamic behavior, such as colloidal microscale swimmers. Our results promise to open up new insights into magnetically actuated 2-D materials.