Curvature instability of chiral colloidal membranes on crystallization

Lachit Saikia, Tanmoy Sarkar, Meera Thomas, V. A. Raghunathan, Anirban Sain and Prerna Sharma ()
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Lachit Saikia: Indian Institute of Science
Tanmoy Sarkar: Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai
Meera Thomas: Raman Research Institute
V. A. Raghunathan: Raman Research Institute
Anirban Sain: Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Powai
Prerna Sharma: Indian Institute of Science

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: 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 internal stresses cause the flat membrane to buckle macroscopically and wrinkle locally. Our results demonstrate an alternate pathway based on intrinsic stresses instead of the usual external ones to assemble non-Euclidean sheets at the colloidal length scale.

Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-01441-3

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01441-3

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