Curvature instability of chiral colloidal membranes on crystallization.

ABSTRACT: Buckling and wrinkling instabilities are failure modes of elastic sheets that are avoided in the traditional material design. Recently, a new paradigm has appeared where these instabilities are instead being utilized for high-performance applications. Multiple approaches such as heterogeneous gelation, capillary stresses, and confinement have been used to shape thin macroscopic elastic sheets. However, it remains a challenge to shape two-dimensional self-assembled monolayers at colloidal or molecular length scales. Here, we show the existence of a curvature instability that arises during the crystallization of finite-sized monolayer membranes of chiral colloidal rods. While the bulk of the membrane crystallizes, its edge remains fluid like and exhibits chiral ordering. The resulting intern

SUBMITTER: Saikia L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5658384 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature