(197ae) Probing the Energy Landscape and Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Magnetic Handshake Panels

In the field of programmable self-assembly, where simple building blocks can form highly complex structures following specific local rules of interaction, the desired criteria for these interactions are that they be strong, to enable stable final configurations; specific, to allow for control over which units interact; and long-range, to speed up the assembly process. Embedding different patterns of magnetic dipoles into rigid panels tackles the problem of short-range and weak interactions. The patterning lends specificity to these “magnetic handshake” building blocks, while the magnetic dipoles impart strong, long-range interactions [1]. When assembled, the panels organize hierarchically, first into chains, and then those chains combine to form dense stacks. Differences in the panel types govern the degree of condensation and the order of the observed phase transitions, as well as the final morphologies, allowing us to characterize which panel features lead to structural differences at a larger length scale. We seek to build upon those observations and, by better understanding these kinetic pathways, to obtain control over the emergent structures, as well as the path that the system takes to assemble them. This work will elucidate both kinetic and thermodynamic states of the system, as well as the associated pathways, allowing for the spatiotemporal manipulation of the simple panels into their varied and complex self-assembled final structures.

[1] Ran Niu, Chrisy Xiyu Du, Edward Esposito, Jakin Ng, Michael P. Brenner, Paul L. McEuen, Itai Cohen, "Magnetic handshake materials as a scale-invariant platform for programmed self-assembly", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 116, 24402–24407 (2019).