Self-assembly of microcomponents using the entropic effect
- Resource Type
- Conference
- Authors
- Okabe, U.; Okano, T.; Suzuki, H.
- Source
- 2015 28th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2015 28th IEEE International Conference on. :300-303 Jan, 2015
- Subject
- Aerospace
Bioengineering
Components, Circuits, Devices and Systems
Engineered Materials, Dielectrics and Plasmas
Fields, Waves and Electromagnetics
Power, Energy and Industry Applications
Transportation
Bonding
Self-assembly
Assembly
Shape
Micromechanical devices
Force
Thermodynamics
- Language
- ISSN
- 1084-6999
We propose the use of the entropic effect (the depletion volume effect), which is at work in the assembly of biomolecules, for the self-assembly of artificially engineered microcomponents. When the solution contains macromolecule at relatively high concentration, microcomponents formed assembled structures. The bonding energy is not originated from the surface; it is generated by increasing the translational entropy of macromolecules in the solution. We expect that use of the depletion volume effect promotes the search of the global free-energy minimum in the system by avoiding being trapped to the local minima in the self-assembly process.