Soft Matter Interfaces at the Nanoscale Towards Building Hierarchical, Multi-Scale Materials

Beihang Yu, Boyce Chang, Whitney Loo, Sarah Berlinger, Ricardo Ruiz

Control over interfaces at the nanoscale is a key enabler for many applications that utilize material interfaces to drive the formation of hierarchical structures with desired functionalities. In particular, soft matter interfaces are finding a wide range of applications in semiconductor, optical, quantum, and biological devices, by enabling completely new architectures from functional 1D, 2D, and 3D assemblies. The ability to control and manipulate interactions at interfaces, understanding the detailed structure and property of the interfaces, and the relevant mechanisms behind these processes and phenomena, are essential for rational design and fabrication of precise, well-controlled interfaces at the nanoscale towards building hierarchical, multi-scale materials. This symposium aims to bring together researchers (experimental or theory/simulation) from diverse communities that are investigating and utilizing soft matter interfaces at the nanoscale, providing a stage for interdisciplinary discussions over recent progress, future outlooks, and inspiration for new ideas and collaborations.

Symposium Location: B59 – 3101

Symposium Schedule:

8:30 am – 8:35 am

Welcome & Introduction

8:35 am – 9:05 am

Multi-micron crisscross structures grown from DNA-origami slats (In-person)

William Shih, Harvard University

9:05 am – 9:35 am

Self-Assembly of Nanoscale Architectures with DNA (In person)

Greg Tikhomirov , UC Berkeley

9:35 am – 9:50 am

Controlling the Nano-scale Morphology and Crystallinity of Peptoid Nanostructures by Modulating Lattice Interactions with Small Molecules (In person)

Tianyi Yu, Berkeley Lab

9:50 am – 10:00 am

Discussion

10:00 am – 10:30 am

Break

10:30 am – 11:00 am

Molecular Simulations of Ligand-Functionalized Nanoparticles with Tailored Interfacial Behavior (Virtual)

Reid Van Lehn, University of Wisconsin – Madison

11:00 am – 11:15 am

Predicting and Understanding the Complex Self-Assembly Behaviors of a Multicomponent Nanocomposite (In person)

Emma Vargo, UC Berkeley