Selective Self-Assembly for
Micro and Nanoscale Systems
Prof. Carol Livermore
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Selective self-assembly of diverse components into programmed
arrangements is a promising approach to building complex, small-scale
systems, but creating effective, flexible means of guiding how the
components assemble remains difficult. In response to this challenge, we
have created, demonstrated, and quantitatively modeled an approach to
programmed self-assembly that uses controllable mechanical forces in
conjunction with chemically-based attractive forces to organize objects
selectively on a surface, so that each type of object assembles preferentially
in its proper place. Called templated assembly by selective removal
(TASR), this approach relies on shape and size matching between the
components and the surface to determine which objects are retained on the
surface and which are mechanically removed. This talk will describe the
TASR concept, the experiments that demonstrate and quantify its
performance, the quantitative theory that describes and predicts the assembly
results, and its potential applications for chromatography and structuring
small-scale systems.
CISX-101
Wednesday, November 7, 4:00 – 5:00
snacks at 3:45