Polymer-networked nanoparticles are the basis for advanced materials useful for wearable electronics, drug delivery, autonomous computing, and other applications. To characterize and predict the physics and underlying mechanisms of the network connections in two-and three-dimensional engineered nanoparticle arrays, we developed an analogous Potts model of three-state sites. Together with dissipative particle dynamics simulations, we found that the network structures in polymer-linked nanoparticle assemblies are generally dominated by the number of nearest neighbors and not the topology of the lattice. When the $E$ field regulates the network connections, the links along the $E$-field direction always dominate the overall network structure.

• Received 7 March 2023
• Accepted 9 June 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L022057

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society