Response to dynamic shape changes in suspensions of hard rectangles

Abstract

While the autonomous assembly of hard nanoparticles with different shapes has been studied extensively both in experiment and simulations, little is known about systems where particle shape can be dynamically altered. DNA origami nanostructures offer an alternative route to synthesize nanoparticles that can change their shape on demand. Motivated by recent experiments, here we study the structure and dynamics of suspensions of hard squares in response to an elongation into a rectangle. Performing dynamic hard-particle Monte Carlo simulations at constant volume and employing two protocols, we numerically analyze the collective diffusion and ordering during the shape change and the subsequent relaxation towards the new equilibrium state. We find that the cascading protocol, which mimics experimentally realized DNA origami, can become dynamically arrested due to the increase in effective packing fraction.