Related papers: Totimorphic assemblies from neutrally-stable units
Relationships between a chaotic behavior and closely related properties of topological transitivity, sensitivity to initial conditions, density of closed orbits of homeomorphism groups and their countable products are investigated. We…
Correlated phenomena occur in quantum materials because of the delicate interplay between internal degrees of freedom, leading to multiple symmetry-broken quantum phases. Resolving the structure of these phases is a key challenge, often…
Helical structures, almost ubiquitous in biological systems, have inspired the design and manufacturing of helical devices with applications in nanoelecromechanical systems (NEMS), morphing structures, optoelectronics, micro-robotics and…
A light-weight "inflatable" tensioned-membrane-structure vacuum container is proposed and its stability is analyzed. The proposed structure consists of a pressurized lobed cylindrical "wall" surrounding a central evacuated space. Stability…
Understanding how to produce forces using biomolecular building blocks is essential for the development of adaptive synthetic cells and living materials. Here we ask whether a dynamic polymer system can generate deformation forces in soft…
The regular polyhedra have the highest order of 3D symmetries and are exceptionally at- tractive templates for (self)-assembly using minimal types of building blocks, from nano-cages and virus capsids to large scale constructions like glass…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
Using full 3D finite element simulation and underlining Hamiltonian models, we demonstrate reconfigurable photonic analogues of topological insulators on a regular lattice of tunable posts in a re-entrant 3D lumped element type system. The…
We apply a simple model system of patchy particles to study monodisperse self-assembly, using the Platonic solids as target structures. We find marked differences between the assembly behaviours of the different systems. Tetrahedra,…
Architected metamaterials such as foams and lattices exhibit a wide range of properties governed by microstructural instabilities and emerging phase transformations. Their macroscopic response--including energy dissipation during impact,…
Designing anisotropic structured materials by reducing symmetry results in unique behaviors, such as shearing under uniaxial compression or tension. This direction-dependent coupled mechanical phenomenon is crucial for applications such as…
Colloidal particles dispersed in liquid crystals can form new materials with tunable elastic and electro-optic properties. In a periodic `blue phase' host, particles should template into colloidal crystals with potential uses in photonics,…
Highly symmetric nano-shells are found in many biological systems, such as clathrin cages and viral shells. Several studies have shown that symmetric shells appear in nature as a result of the free energy minimization of a generic…
The cytoplasm is a heterogeneous mixture containing many types of proteins that self-assemble into a wide variety of complexes. The accuracy and speed of cytoplasmic self-assembly is astonishing because it involves the correct…
Heterogeneous materials consisting of different phases are ideally suited to achieve a broad spectrum of desirable bulk physical properties by combining the best features of the constituents through the strategic spatial arrangement of the…
This study examines the mechanical behavior of a novel class of mechanical metamaterials alternating pentamode lattices and stiffening plates. The unit cell of such lattices consists of a sub-lattice of the face cubic-centered unit cell…
An orthotropic metamaterial is composed of elements arrayed periodically in space. The element includes two cuboid structures. The first structure is the basic structure of the element, and the second structure is the transformation of the…
Semiflexible polymers in poor solvents exhibit a rich variety of collapsed morphologies, including globules, toroids, and rodlike bundles, arising from the competition between attractive interactions and chain stiffness. Computer…
Particles with directional interactions are promising building blocks for new functional materials and may serve as models for biological structures. Mutually attractive nanoparticles that are deformable due to flexible surface groups, for…
Elastic sheets with macroscopic dimensions are easy to deform by bending and stretching. Yet shaping nanometric sheets by mechanical manipulation is hard. Here we show that nanoparticle self-assembly could be used to this end. We…