| Self-assembly is the term used to describe the autonomous organization of pre-existing components into ordered structures or patterns from a disordered system. In self-assembly, the final (desired) ordered structures and functions depend on the information coded in individual components. It is well known that isotropic particles can form into amorphous and crystalline structures. Furthermore, with the advance in synthesis technology, the fundamental building blocks of the self-assembling systems have become more complex, which consequently increases the complexity of the structures and enriches the properties new materials can have.;In this thesis, we have studied several coarse-grained models and their self-assemblies. Using Brownian dynamics, we investigate the dynamic processes and mechanisms in self-assembling systems; using Monte Carlo simulations, we examine the structures and properties of aggregates obtained from self-assembly. In particular, we focus on the effects of anisotropic factors introduced to the fundamental components in those systems. We find that such anisotropy can affect the dynamic process of the self-assembly and eventually lead to the change in aggregation structures which possess new characters and carry potential applications. We also find that the combination of different anisotropy dimensions can hence purify/magnify certain properties induced by one anisotropy dimension, and such purification/magnification in a desired function could happen in a fairly small regime of a control parameter. This could be of general interest from the design point of view. |
