Related papers: The crystalline properties of silica biomorphs var…
Crystal growth processes produce a diverse array of surface formations, primarily distinguished by their geometric shapes. While some structures strictly adhere to the underlying crystal symmetry, others exhibit universal circular or oval…
Amorphous silica deforms viscoplastically at elevated temperatures, as is common for brittle glasses. The key mechanism of viscoplastic deformation involves interatomic bond switching, which is known to be a thermally activated process. In…
Chirality plays a crucial role in determining the structure of many systems in nature. Twisted or helical aggregates as a consequence of self-assembly can be seen in many biological and synthetic materials. Despite extensive theoretical and…
The growth of crystals confined in porous or cellular materials is ubiquitous in Nature and industry. Confinement affects the formation of biominerals in living organisms, of minerals in the Earth's crust and of salt crystals damaging…
Modeling the atomic structure of amorphous materials has long been a critical challenge in materials science. Recent advances in monolayer amorphous materials enable direct observation of their atomic structures, paving the way for a better…
New materials aim at exploiting the great control of living organisms over molecular architectures and minerals. Optical biomimetics has been widely developed by microengineering, leading to photonic components with order resembling those…
Biofilms are complex, self-organized consortia of microorganisms that produce a functional, protective matrix of biomolecules. Physically, the structure of a biofilm can be described as an entangled polymer network which grows and changes…
Highly crystallized undoped hydrogenated microcrystalline silicon films prepared using SiF4-H2 mixture plasma were investigated at various stages of growth employing different microstructural probes. Our self-consistent results elucidate…
In this review, we present our recent computational work on carbon-based nanostructured composites. These materials consist of carbon crystallites embedded in an amorphous carbon matrix and are modeled here through classical and…
Complex crystal structures are composed of multiple local environments, and how this type of order emerges spontaneously during crystal growth has yet to be fully understood. We study crystal growth across various structures and along…
The rapid and complex patterning of biosilica in diatom frustules is of great interest in nanotechnology, although it remains incompletely understood. Specific organic molecules, including long-chain polyamines, silaffins, and silacidins…
Many crystals in nature exhibit fascinating mechanical, optical, magnetic and other characteristics. One of the reasons for this phenomenon has to do with the presence of specific organic molecules that are tightly associated with the…
The stability of organic solar cells is strongly affected by the morphology of the photoactive layers, whose separated crystalline and/or amorphous phases are kinetically quenched far from their thermodynamic equilibrium during the…
Chirality, the property of asymmetry, is of great importance in biological and physical phenomena. This prospective offers an overview of the emerging field of chiral bioinspired plasmonics and metamaterials, aiming to uncover nature's…
The molecular structures of amorphous silica and crystalline quartz are used to predict their intrinsic strength and fracture toughness together with the theoretical strength of silicon dioxide. At the atomic scale, the amorphous silica is…
We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to study the equilibrium properties of the surface of amorphous silica. Two types of geometries are investigated: i) clusters with different diameters (13.5\AA, 19\AA, and 26.5\AA) and ii) a…
We have adapted classical molecular dynamics to study the structural and dynamical properties of amorphous silica surfaces. Concerning the structure, the density profile exhibits oscillations perpendicularly to the surface as observed in…
Diatoms have been described as nanometer-born lithographers because of their ability to create sophisticated three-dimensional amorphous silica exoskeletons. The hierarchical architecture of these structures provides diatoms with mechanical…
An increasing variety of crystal structures has been observed in soft condensed matter over the past two decades, surpassing most expectations for the diversity of arrangements accessible through classical driving forces. Here, we survey…
The structure of surfaces and interfaces of silica (SiO2) is investigated by large scale molecular dynamics computer simulations. In the case of a free silica surface, the results of a classical molecular dynamics simulation are compared to…