Self-assembly of amphiphilic Janus spheres using the lattice Boltzmann method: Setting up the lattice Boltzmann method for soft matter

We discuss the relevance of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for soft matter alongside other simulation methods. We set up a popular problem of self-assembly of Janus spheres by combining native fluid and particle models in LBM with a simple amphiphilic pair potential. Thermal fluctuations and close contact corrections are also incorporated along with a novel periodic boundary condition for finite-sized 3D particles. Preliminary results of Janus sphere self-assembly are presented and compared with similar works in the literature. We also comment on the difficulties that LBM faces tackling such problems.