Ionic colloidal crystals of oppositely charged particles

Colloidal suspensions are widely used to study processes such as melting, freezing and glass transitions. This is because they display the same phase behaviour as atoms or molecules, with the nano- to micrometre size of the colloidal particles making it possible to observe them directly in real space. Another attractive feature is that different types of colloidal interactions, such as long-range repulsive, short-range attractive, hard-sphere-like and dipolar, can be realized and give rise to equilibrium phases. However, spherically symmetric, long-range attractions (that is, ionic interactions) have so far always resulted in irreversible colloidal aggregation. Here we show that the electrostatic interaction between oppositely charged particles can be tuned such that large ionic colloidal crystals form readily, with our theory and simulations confirming the stability of these structures. We find that in contrast to atomic systems, the stoichiometry of our colloidal crystals is not dictated by charge neutrality; this allows us to obtain a remarkable diversity of new binary structures. An external electric field melts the crystals, confirming that the constituent particles are indeed oppositely charged. Colloidal model systems can thus be used to study the phase behaviour of ionic species. We also expect that our approach to controlling opposite-charge interactions will facilitate the production of binary crystals of micrometre-sized particles, which could find use as advanced materials for photonic applications.     

Stacking of conical molecules with a fullerene apex into polar columns in crystals and liquid crystals

Polar liquid crystalline materials can be used in optical and electronic applications, and recent interest has turned to formation strategies that exploit the shape of polar molecules and their interactions to direct molecular alignment. For example, banana-shaped molecules align their molecular bent within smectic layers, whereas conical molecules should form polar columnar assemblies. However, the flatness of the conical molecules used until now and their ability to flip have limited the success of this approach to making polar liquid crystalline materials. Here we show that the attachment of five aromatic groups to one pentagon of a C(60) fullerene molecule yields deeply conical molecules that stack into polar columnar assemblies. The stacking is driven by attractive interactions between the spherical fullerene moiety and the hollow cone formed by the five aromatic side groups of a neighbouring molecule in the same column. This packing pattern is maintained when we extend the aromatic groups by attaching flexible aliphatic chains, which yields compounds with thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystalline properties. In contrast, the previously reported fullerene-containing liquid crystals all exhibit thermotropic properties only, and none of them contains the fullerene moiety as a functional part of its mesogen units. Our design strategy should be applicable to other molecules and yield a range of new polar liquid crystalline materials.     

胶态晶体的研究进展

胶态晶体是一系列排布有序的周期性结构,因作为一种自组装材料具有潜在应用被广泛关注,使得人工合成胶态晶体成为近年来的研究热点。对胶态晶体的结构单元(单分散硬质微球、核-壳型微球以及大小微球等)和制备方法(溶剂挥发自组装和外界场力自组装)等方面进行了综述。     

Reconfigurable self-assembly through chiral control of interfacial tension

From determining the optical properties of simple molecular crystals to establishing the preferred handedness in highly complex vertebrates, molecular chirality profoundly influences the structural, mechanical and optical properties of both synthetic and biological matter on macroscopic length scales. In soft materials such as amphiphilic lipids and liquid crystals, the competition between local chiral interactions and global constraints imposed by the geometry of the self-assembled structures leads to frustration and the assembly of unique materials. An example of particular interest is smectic liquid crystals, where the two-dimensional layered geometry cannot support twist and chirality is consequently expelled to the edges in a manner analogous to the expulsion of a magnetic field from superconductors. Here we demonstrate a consequence of this geometric frustration that leads to a new design principle for the assembly of chiral molecules. Using a model system of colloidal membranes, we show that molecular chirality can control the interfacial tension, an important property of multi-component mixtures. This suggests an analogy between chiral twist, which is expelled to the edges of two-dimensional membranes, and amphiphilic surfactants, which are expelled to oil-water interfaces. As with surfactants, chiral control of interfacial tension drives the formation of many polymorphic assemblages such as twisted ribbons with linear and circular topologies, starfish membranes, and double and triple helices. Tuning molecular chirality in situ allows dynamical control of line tension, which powers polymorphic transitions between various chiral structures. These findings outline a general strategy for the assembly of reconfigurable chiral materials that can easily be moved, stretched, attached to one another and transformed between multiple conformational states, thus allowing precise assembly and nanosculpting of highly dynamical and designable materials with complex topologies.     

金属玻璃的液态结构及其动力学胶体模拟

研究金属玻璃对于改善性能,开发新的合金体系有重要意义。由于实验手段的局限,目前为止还未能直接观测到液态结构的演化过程。胶体体系可以得到直观可视的粒子图像,已被应用于模拟研究原子体系的物理变化过程。通过不同的胶体体积浓度来模拟金属玻璃熔体,分析了不同胶体液态体系中的团簇结构,并对胶体粒子的扩散规律进行了探讨。结果表明液态体系的浓度越高,粒子的扩散速率越慢,局域特征结构发生变化,并在高浓度液态结构中观察到了结构的局域有序性动力学阻滞形成的笼子效应,为胶体体系液态微结构随浓度的演化提供了直接的实验证据。     

相场法模拟第二相颗粒对柱状晶定向生长的影响

[目的]第二相颗粒的存在能影响晶粒的长大,提高材料的力学性能,因而我们用计算机模拟了含第二相颗粒的镍基合金材料在再结晶后的定向退火过程中的柱状晶生长。[方法]在相场法的基础上引入一个温度控制晶界运动的二维平面退火模型,使用该模型对含第二相颗粒的样品进行定向退火处理,观察退火过程中组织形貌的变化,并从第二相颗粒的含量和位置两个方面来讨论退火过程中第二相颗粒对柱状晶组织生长的影响,通过对柱状晶长宽比的统计来反应这些变化。[结果]定向退火处理可产生柱状晶结构;弥散分布的第二相颗粒的存在不利于柱状晶生长,并且含量越高柱状晶越粗,长宽比越小。[结论]第二相颗粒位置可以改变柱状晶晶界的形成方向,间距可以影响长宽比的大小,颗粒间的横向间距和纵向间距都存在一个临界值使柱状晶的长宽比最大。     

Suppression of crystal nucleation in polydisperse colloids due to increase of the surface free energy

The formation of small crystallites is governed by two competing factors: the free energy gained upon transferring constituent atoms, molecules or colloidal particles from the metastable liquid to the more stable solid, and the free energy needed to create the surface area of the crystallite. Because the ratio of surface area to bulk is large for small particles, small crystallites dissolve spontaneously under conditions where larger crystallites are stable and macroscopic crystal growth occurs only if spontaneously formed crystallites exceed a critical minimum size. On theoretical grounds, the probability of forming such critical crystal nuclei is expected to increase rapidly with supersaturation. However, experiments show that the rate of crystal nucleation in many systems goes through a maximum as the supersaturation is increased. It is commonly assumed that the nucleation rate peaks because, even though the probability of forming critical nuclei increases with increasing concentration, the rate of growth of such nuclei decreases. Here we report simulations of crystal nucleation in suspensions of colloidal spheres with varying size distributions that show that the probability that critical nuclei will form itself goes through a maximum as the supersaturation is increased. We find that this effect, which is strongest for systems with the broadest particle size distribution, results from an increase with supersaturation of the solid-liquid interfacial free energy. The magnitude of this effect suggests that vitrification at high supersaturations should yield colloidal glasses that are truly amorphous, rather than nano-crystalline.     

Free-standing mesoporous silica films with tunable chiral nematic structures

Chirality at the molecular level is found in diverse biological structures, such as polysaccharides, proteins and DNA, and is responsible for many of their unique properties. Introducing chirality into porous inorganic solids may produce new types of materials that could be useful for chiral separation, stereospecific catalysis, chiral recognition (sensing) and photonic materials. Template synthesis of inorganic solids using the self-assembly of lyotropic liquid crystals offers access to materials with well-defined porous structures, but only recently has chirality been introduced into hexagonal mesostructures through the use of a chiral surfactant. Efforts to impart chirality at a larger length scale using self-assembly are almost unknown. Here we describe the development of a photonic mesoporous inorganic solid that is a cast of a chiral nematic liquid crystal formed from nanocrystalline cellulose. These materials may be obtained as free-standing films with high surface area. The peak reflected wavelength of the films can be varied across the entire visible spectrum and into the near-infrared through simple changes in the synthetic conditions. To the best of our knowledge these are the first materials to combine mesoporosity with long-range chiral ordering that produces photonic properties. Our findings could lead to the development of new materials for applications in, for example, tuneable reflective filters and sensors. In addition, this type of material could be used as a hard template to generate other new materials with chiral nematic structures.     

Colloidal ordering from phase separation in a liquid-crystalline continuous phase

Some binary mixtures exist as a single phase at high temperatures and as two phases at lower temperatures; rapid cooling therefore induces phase separation that proceeds through the initial formation of small particles and subsequent growth and coarsening. In solid and liquid media, this process leads to growing particles with a range of sizes, which eventually separate to form a macroscopically distinct phase. Such behaviour is of particular interest in systems composed of an isotropic fluid and a liquid crystal, where the random distribution of liquid-crystal droplets in an isotropic polymer matrix may give rise to interesting electro-optical properties. Here we report that a binary mixture consisting of an isotropic fluid and a liquid crystal forming the continuous phase does not fully separate into two phases, but self-organizes into highly ordered arrays of monodisperse colloidal droplet chains. We find that the size and spatial organization of the droplets are controlled by the orientational elasticity of the liquid-crystal phase and the defects caused by droplets exceeding a critical size. We expect that our approach to forming monodisperse, spatially ordered droplets in liquid crystals will allow the controlled design of ordered composites that may have useful rheological and optical properties.     

Directed self-assembly of a colloidal kagome lattice

A challenging goal in materials chemistry and physics is spontaneously to form intended superstructures from designed building blocks. In fields such as crystal engineering and the design of porous materials, this typically involves building blocks of organic molecules, sometimes operating together with metallic ions or clusters. The translation of such ideas to nanoparticles and colloidal-sized building blocks would potentially open doors to new materials and new properties, but the pathways to achieve this goal are still undetermined. Here we show how colloidal spheres can be induced to self-assemble into a complex predetermined colloidal crystal-in this case a colloidal kagome lattice-through decoration of their surfaces with a simple pattern of hydrophobic domains. The building blocks are simple micrometre-sized spheres with interactions (electrostatic repulsion in the middle, hydrophobic attraction at the poles, which we call 'triblock Janus') that are also simple, but the self-assembly of the spheres into an open kagome structure contrasts with previously known close-packed periodic arrangements of spheres. This open network is of interest for several theoretical reasons. With a view to possible enhanced functionality, the resulting lattice structure possesses two families of pores, one that is hydrophobic on the rims of the pores and another that is hydrophilic. This strategy of 'convergent' self-assembly from easily fabricated colloidal building blocks encodes the target supracolloidal architecture, not in localized attractive spots but instead in large redundantly attractive regions, and can be extended to form other supracolloidal networks.     

水热法合成超细T型分子筛

在较低温度和添加四甲基氢氧化锰溶液(TMAOH)模板剂条件下,采用水热法合成了平均粒径为150nm的超细T型分子筛.采用XRD、IR、SEM和N2吸附脱附法表征了合成的样品.结果表明,合成的超细T型分子筛晶粒具有均匀的颗粒粒径分布和大的比表面积,而且极少量的超细晶种就能有效地促进T型分子筛的结晶.添加晶种或模板剂均可以有效地控制生成晶粒的大小和分布.     

Diffusion of point defects in two-dimensional colloidal crystals

Uniform colloidal microspheres dispersed in a solvent will, under appropriate conditions, self-assemble into ordered crystalline structures. Using these colloidal crystals as a model system, a great variety of problems of interest to materials science, physical chemistry, and condensed-matter physics have been investigated during the past two decades. Recently, it has been demonstrated that point defects can be created in two-dimensional colloidal crystals by manipulating individual particles with optical tweezers. Direct imaging of these defects verified that their stable configurations have lower symmetry than the underlying triangular lattice, as predicted by numerical simulations for a number of two-dimensional systems. It was also observed that point defects can dissociate into pairs of well-separated dislocations, a topological excitation especially important in two dimensions. Here we use a similar experimental system to study the dynamics of mono- and di-vacancies in two-dimensional colloidal crystals. We see evidence that the excitation of point defects into dislocation pairs enhances the diffusion of di-vacancies. Moreover, the hopping of the defects does not follow a pure random walk, but exhibits surprising memory effects. We expect the results presented in this work to be relevant for explaining the dynamics of other two-dimensional systems.     

Light-induced liquid crystallinity

Liquid crystals are traditionally classified as thermotropic, lyotropic or polymeric, based on the stimulus that governs the organization and order of the molecular system. The most widely known and applied class of liquid crystals are a subset of thermotropic liquid crystals known as calamitic, in which adding heat can result in phase transitions from or into the nematic, cholesteric and smectic mesophases. Photoresponsive liquid-crystal materials and mixtures can undergo isothermal phase transitions if light affects the order parameter of the system within a mesophase sufficiently. In nearly all previous examinations, light exposure of photoresponsive liquid-crystal materials and mixtures resulted in order-decreasing photo-induced isothermal phase transitions. Under specialized conditions, an increase in order with light exposure has been reported, despite the tendency of the photoresponsive liquid-crystal system to reduce order in the exposed state. A direct, photo-induced transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase has been observed in a mixture of spiropyran molecules and a nematic liquid crystal. Here we report a class of naphthopyran-based materials that exhibit photo-induced conformational changes in molecular structure capable of yielding order-increasing phase transitions. Appropriate functionalization of the naphthopyran molecules leads to an exceedingly large order parameter in the open form, which results in a clear to strongly absorbing dichroic state. The increase in order with light exposure has profound implications in optics, photonics, lasing and displays and will merit further consideration for applications in solar energy harvesting. The large, photo-induced dichroism exhibited by the material system has been long sought in ophthalmic applications such as photochromic and polarized variable transmission sunglasses.     

Electric-field-induced capillary attraction between like-charged particles at liquid interfaces

Nanometre- and micrometre-sized charged particles at aqueous interfaces are typically stabilized by a repulsive Coulomb interaction. If one of the phases forming the interface is a nonpolar substance (such as air or oil) that cannot sustain a charge, the particles will exhibit long-ranged dipolar repulsion; if the interface area is confined, mutual repulsion between the particles can induce ordering and even crystallization. However, particle ordering has also been observed in the absence of area confinement, suggesting that like-charged particles at interfaces can also experience attractive interactions. Interface deformations are known to cause capillary forces that attract neighbouring particles to each other, but a satisfying explanation for the origin of such distortions remains outstanding. Here we present quantitative measurements of attractive interactions between colloidal particles at an oil-water interface and show that the attraction can be explained by capillary forces that arise from a distortion of the interface shape that is due to electrostatic stresses caused by the particles' dipolar field. This explanation, which is consistent with all reports on interfacial particle ordering so far, also suggests that the attractive interactions might be controllable: by tuning the polarity of one of the interfacial fluids, it should be possible to adjust the electrostatic stresses of the system and hence the interparticle attractions.     

2021年结构色打印研究热点回眸

结构色是一种环保且稳定的呈色方式,在新型显示、信息加密、色度传感、防伪标签等领域具有广泛的应用前景.打印技术是实现结构色快速图案化、发挥结构色功能的重要途径.2021年,结构色打印在原理突破、技术发展及功能拓展等方面均取得了重要进展.回顾了2021年结构色打印领域的研究热点和代表性成果,包括透明墨水的全彩结构色打印、胶...     

精细复合含碳坯体的胶态成型与生态设计

研究了SL型聚合(高分子)电解质分散剂对含石墨掺杂高岭土粉体的胶体稳定性影响．结果表明该分散剂能使碳易在水中溶解并使溶液粘度快速降低，同样在高岭土-水系统中也发现类似现象，通过粒度分布的分析，所测试的粉体均具有多峰行为，其有利于颗粒微观内力作用下的颗粒紧密堆积，因此基于低粘度与高固相含量的控制，可获得具有高密度的精细复合坯体，其包括高岭土/石墨以及飞灰/石墨/高岭土，从悬浮体制备到素坯形成的一系列胶态成型工艺中，其重要因素主要包括混合粉体的组分配比、分散剂含量、各种粉体的粒度分布以及固相质量分数等，它们对流变性、生态性与力学性能均产生直接地影响。     

氢键稳定的含酰胺基的盘状液晶研究进展

氢键稳定的盘状液晶柱状相拥有高的有序性和电荷传输速率,其作为新型有机半导体材料具有广阔的应用前景.系统地综述了酰胺基形成的氢键在盘状液晶研究中的进展.氢键在液晶分子自组装的作用可分为结构封闭型和结构开放型两大体系.在开放型中的盘状液晶分子中心核可分为四大盘状液晶:以单一苯环为中心核的含酰胺键盘状液晶;以苯并菲为中心核的含酰胺键盘状液晶;六苯并蔻及其它芳核体系.对代表性化合物的分子设计及液晶性进行了介绍.     

Visualizing dislocation nucleation by indenting colloidal crystals

The formation of dislocations is central to our understanding of yield, work hardening, fracture, and fatigue of crystalline materials. While dislocations have been studied extensively in conventional materials, recent results have shown that colloidal crystals offer a potential model system for visualizing their structure and dynamics directly in real space. Although thermal fluctuations are thought to play a critical role in the nucleation of these defects, it is difficult to observe them directly. Nano-indentation, during which a small tip deforms a crystalline film, is a common tool for introducing dislocations into a small volume that is initially defect-free. Here, we show that an analogue of nano-indentation performed on a colloidal crystal provides direct images of defect formation in real time and on the single particle level, allowing us to probe the effects of thermal fluctuations. We implement a new method to determine the strain tensor of a distorted crystal lattice and we measure the critical dislocation loop size and the rate of dislocation nucleation directly. Using continuum models, we elucidate the relation between thermal fluctuations and the applied strain that governs defect nucleation. Moreover, we estimate that although bond energies between particles are about fifty times larger in atomic systems, the difference in attempt frequencies makes the effects of thermal fluctuations remarkably similar, so that our results are also relevant for atomic crystals.     

In situ observation of colloidal monolayer nucleation driven by an alternating electric field

The nucleation of crystalline materials is a hotly debated subject in the physical sciences. Despite the emergence of several theories in recent decades, much confusion still surrounds the dynamic processes of nucleation. This has been due in part to the limitations of existing experimental evidence. Charged colloidal suspensions have been used as experimental model systems for the study of crystal nucleation and structural phase transitions, as their crystallization phase diagram is analogous to that of atomic and molecular systems, but they can be visualized using microscopy. Previously, three-dimensional imaging of colloidal nucleation dynamics was achieved using confocal microscopy. However, the limited temporal resolution of the confocal microscope is of concern when trying to capture real-time colloidal crystal nucleation events. Moreover, as the thermodynamic driving force has remained undefined, data on key factors such as the critical nuclei size are at best semiquantitative. Here we present real-time direct imaging and quantitative measurements of the pre- and post-nucleation processes of colloidal spheres, and the kinetics of nucleation driven by an alternating electric field, under well-defined thermodynamic driving forces. Our imaging approach could facilitate the observation of other rarely observed phenomena, such as defect and grain-boundary formation and the effects of foreign particles during crystallization. Furthermore, it may prove useful in identifying optical and biological technologies based on colloids.