Prediction and control of non-equilibrium (meta-)stable morphologies

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Angelika Kühnle; Professor Dr. Thomas Speck
• Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 319880407

In this project we study molecular self-assembly of organic molecules on non-metallic, insulating substrates, which has potentially unique applications in organic electronics. Due to the weak molecule-substrate interactions, dewetting and the formation of islands with intriguing morphologies is observed. The aim of this project is to formulate basic design principles for the self-assembly of long-lived, kinetically trapped structures with pre-defined morphologies. To this end we will develop a numerical method based on biased path sampling and perform extensive numerical simulations, from which we aim to extract insights into experimentally tunable parameters in a systematic manner. We will perform preliminary experiments to test our theoretical approach and numerical results for a specific model system, fullerenes on fluorite.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Ralf Bechstein