Self-assembly of smallest magnetic particles #MMPMID26554000
Mehdizadeh Taheri S; Michaelis M; Friedrich T; Förster B; Drechsler M; Römer FM; Bösecke P; Narayanan T; Weber B; Rehberg I; Rosenfeldt S; Förster S
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015[Nov]; 112 (47): 14484-9 PMID26554000show ga
We discovered that small magnetic nanocubes spontaneously assemble into highly ordered chains, sheets, and cuboids in solution by applying a magnetic field. We elucidate how these assemblies are formed by working out the three-dimensional equilibrium arrangement of the dipoles. This classic physics problem turned out to be amazingly complex. The discovered solution self-assembly process is of high relevance in various fields reaching from high-density data storage over magnetotactic cells to medical applications.