Department of Chemistry

portrait of Professor Daan Frenkel ForMemRS

Professor Daan Frenkel ForMemRS

Trinity College

Groups: Frenkel group website, Theory

Telephone: 01223 336376
             01223 336341

E-mail: df246@cam.ac.uk

The research in my research group focuses on the numerical exploration of routes to design novel, self-assembling structures and materials. In particular, I am interested in the possibilities that bio-molecular recognition and motor action offer to create complex, nano-structured materials.

The main aspects of the research are

  • Develop novel Monte Carlo techniques to predict the thermodynamic stability of complex structures (e.g. DNA-coated colloids – fig 1).
  • Explore novel dynamical simulation techniques to predict the rate at which novel structures form from a meta-stable parent phase (e.g. crystal nucleation – fig 2).
  • Quantify the disorder in granular packings.
  • Coarse-grained models for molecular motors.

Fig.1. Snapshot of condensation of a low-density (left) to high-density (right) system of colloids (shown as red and green spheres) linked by DNA coils (shown as small spheres in left snapshot).

  

Fig.2. Heterogeneous crystal nucleation on disordered substrates is facilitated by wetting and capillary condensation.

Publications

RAMAN-SPECTRUM OF ARGON DIMERS
D FRENKEL, JP MCTAGUE - The Journal of Chemical Physics (1979) 70, 2695
(DOI: 10.1063/1.437855)
MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS TEST OF THE HALPERIN-NELSON 2-DIMENSIONAL MELTING THEORY
D FRENKEL, JP MCTAGUE - BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (1979) 24, 362
EVIDENCE FOR AN ORIENTATIONALLY ORDERED 2-DIMENSIONAL FLUID PHASE FROM MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS CALCULATIONS
D FRENKEL, JP MCTAGUE - Physical Review Letters (1979) 42, 1632
(DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.1632)
Experimental and calculated cross sections for pressure broadening of pure rotational Raman lines of HCl
GJQ VANDERPEIJL, D FRENKEL, J VANDERELSKEN - Chemical Physics Letters (1978) 56, 602
(DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(78)89050-2)
Determination of potential energy surfaces for Ar-HCl and Kr-HCl from rotational linebroadening data
JG KIRCZ, GJQ VANDERPEYL, J VANDERELSKEN, D FRENKEL - The Journal of Chemical Physics (1978) 69, 4606
(DOI: 10.1063/1.436412)
Rotational relaxation of solute molecules in dense noble gases and the relation with local anisotropy fluctuations
J Van Der Elsken, D Frenkel - Faraday Symposia of the Chemical Society (1977) 11, 125
General discussion
AD Buckingham, A Gerschel, G Wyllie, W Alexiewicz, J Buchert, S Kielich, G Williams, J Yarwood, JS Rowlinson, BJ Berne, D Frenkel, T Dorfmüller, G Searby, M Davies, JM Vaughan, R Pecora, D Kivelson, PSY Cheung, PA Madden, RM Lynden-Bell, MR Battaglia, TI Cox, RA Shatwell, GC Tabisz, DW Oxtoby, K Singer - Faraday Symposia of the Chemical Society (1977) 11, 148
FAR IR STUDY OF AR-HCI VANDERWAALS MOLECULE/EC
EW BOOM, D FRENKEL, J VANDERELSKEN - J CHEM PHYS (1977) 66, 1826
(DOI: 10.1063/1.434201)
Density dependence of the pressure induced shift of HCl rotational lines perturbed by argon
D FRENKEL, J VANDERELSKEN - Chemical Physics Letters (1977) 50, 116
(DOI: 10.1016/0009-2614(77)80692-1)
Anisotropic density fluctuations in argon at different densities: Far infrared measurements and molecular dynamic calculations
D FRENKEL, J VANDERELSKEN - The Journal of Chemical Physics (1977) 67, 4243


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