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Updated: May 23, 2026

Origami Inspired Self-assembly of Patterned and Reconfigurable Particles
Published on: February 4, 2013
Sheet-like assemblies of spherical particles with point-symmetrical patches
Ethayaraja Mani1, Eduardo Sanz, Soumyajit Roy
1Van' t Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands. ethaya@iitm.ac.in
Abstract:
We report a computational study on the spontaneous self-assembly of spherical particles into two-dimensional crystals. The experimental observation of such structures stabilized by spherical objects appeared paradoxical so far. We implement patchy interactions with the patches point-symmetrically (icosahedral and cubic) arranged on the surface of the particle. In these conditions, preference for self-assembly into sheet-like structures is observed. We explain our findings in terms of the inherent symmetry of the patches and the competition between binding energy and vibrational entropy. The simulation results explain why hollow spherical shells observed in some Keplerate-type polyoxometalates (POM) appear. Our results also provide an explanation for the experimentally observed layer-by-layer growth of apoferritin--a quasi-spherical protein.
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