https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2017-11599-y
Regular Article
Self-assembly of smart mesoscopic objects
GRASP, CESAM Research Unit, Institute of Physics B5a, University of Liège, B4000, Liège, Belgium
* e-mail: jmetzmacher@ulg.ac.be
Received:
27
March
2017
Accepted:
16
November
2017
Published online:
12
December
2017
Self-assembly due to capillary forces is a common method for generating 2D mesoscale structures made of identical particles floating at some liquid-air interface. We show herein how to create soft entities that deform or not the liquid interface as a function of the strength of some applied magnetic field. These smart floating objects self-assemble or not depending on the application of an external field. Moreover, we show that the self-assembling process can be reversed opening ways to rearrange structures.
Key words: Soft Matter: Self-organisation and Supramolecular Assemblies
© EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature, 2017