Title:	Curvature instability of chiral colloidal membranes on crystallization
Authors:	Saikia, Lachit Sarkar, Tanmoy Thomas, Meera Raghunathan, V.A. Sain, Anirban Sharma, Prerna
Issue Date:	27-Oct-2017
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Citation:	Nature Communications, 2017, Vol. 18, p1160
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.
Description:	Open Access
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/6823
ISSN:	2041-1723 (online)
Alternative Location:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01441-3
Copyright:	2017 The authors
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

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