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Speaker:
Prof. José Rafael Bordin

Many extremely complex systems in nature can be approximately (and easily) described using core-softened approached. These effective potentials feature short-range repulsion from a hard core and a longer-range, softer repulsion from a softened shell, resulting in a system with two characteristic interaction scales, much like those seen in water-like anomalies, soft nanoparticles, colloids, vesicles, micelles, or globular proteins. In this talk, I will present recent findings from my group, highlighting self-assembly patterns observed in 2D systems, their connection to anomalous behavior in the fluid phase, and how we can control self-assembly processes to induce new morphologies through geometric confinement or particle anisotropy. I will also explore the relationship between solid polymorphism and polyamorphism in 3D systems exhibiting water-like anomalies and discuss how simple two-scale models can describe complex phenomena such as glass transitions and colloidal crystals.