Self-Assembly of Dimer Motors under Confined Conditions

Chemically synthetic nanomotors can consume fuel in the environment and utilize the self-generated concentration gradient to self-propel themselves in the system. We study the collective dynamics of an ensemble of sphere dimers built from linked catalytic and noncatalytic monomers. Because of the confinement from the fuel field and the interactions among motors, the ensemble of dimer motors can self-organize into various nanostructures, such as a radial pattern in the spherical fuel field and a staggered radial pattern in a cylindrical fuel field. The influence of the dimer volume fraction on the self-assembly is also investigated and the formed nanostructures are analyzed in detail. The results presented here may give insight into the application of the self-assembly of active materials. (paper)