Self-Assembly of Open Structures Using Depletion

Depletion is a universal mechanism to induce order in colloidal self-assembly.

In the absence of explicitly attractive forces or patchy interactions,

anisotropic colloids usually crystallize into close-packed structures. Open

structures are of high interest for applications for example as photonic

crystals. Here we investigate the depletion-driven self-assembly of faceted

colloids using Monte Carlo simulations. We find that such

colloids can form open structures purely from hard shape and depletant

entropy, as well as complex, close-packed unit cells. Our highly efficient simulation

algorithm can readily be used to study the self-assembly of (almost) arbitrary convex

and concave shapes with depletion.