Lecturer: Dr. Rafal Klajn
Affiliation: Department of Organic Chemistry
Weizmann Institute of Science
Abstract:
Organizing inorganic nanoparticles into
complex architectures is challenging and
typically relies on preexisting templates,
such as properly folded DNA or
polypeptide chains. Moreover, the majority
of existing approaches lead to static
structures that cannot easily be changed
once they have formed.
I this talk, I will show that the competition
between various nanoscale forces can lead
to the formation of exotic superstructures
during magnetic field-induced self-assembly
of nanoparticles. The structures of these
assemblies can readily be adjusted by
modulating the strength of the magnetic
field. Next, I will discuss the strategy that we
developed to guide the self-assembly of
nanoparticles using light. We found that as
they self-assemble, these nanoparticles can
capture various small molecules from
solution, and a disassembly/release process
can be induced using light with a different
wavelength.