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Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Interactive Molecular Model Assembly with 3D Printing
Published on: August 13, 2020
Dynamic self-assembly in ensembles of camphor boats
Siowling Soh1, Kyle J M Bishop, Bartosz A Grzybowski
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University,2145 Sheridan Rd., Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
Abstract:
Millimeter-sized gel particles loaded with camphor and floating at the interface between water and air generate convective flows around them. These flows give rise to repulsive interparticle interactions, and mediate dynamic self-assembly of nonequilibrium particle formations. When the numbers of particles, N, are small, particle motions are uncorrelated. When, however, N exceeds a threshold value, particles organize into ordered lattices. The nature of hydrodynamic forces underlying these effects and the dynamics of the self-assembling system are modeled numerically using Navier-Stokes equations as well as analytically using scaling arguments.
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