Spin-selective chiral multiscale materials
Advisors: Prof. Richard Robinson and Prof. Tobias Hanrath
Institution: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University
MS thesis defense: Link
Publication: H. X. Han, S. Kallakuri, Y. Yao, C. B. Williamson, D. R. Nevers, B. H. Savitzky, R. S. Skye, M. Xu, O. Voznyy, J. Dshemuchadse, L. F. Kourkoutis, S. J. Weinstein, T. Hanrath, R. D. Robinson. Multiscale hierarchical structures from a nanocluster mesophase.
Nature Materials, 21(5): 518-525. DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01223-3
Introduction
In this research post-doc Haixiang Han and I (along with our team) investigate how chirality can be structurally imparted into bulk materials starting from an atomic-scale in a continuous, unbroken hierarchy. Chirality is essential to both quantum-materials as well as fundamental biological building blocks. Our team had previously made two important discoveries pertaining to inorganic and chiral materials - 1) That it is possible to isomerize inorganic materials in a controlled bistable manner beyond metal-organic/inorganic complexes (Science) and 2) Concentration can help focus the size of nanoparticles to stable domains that can exhibit this isomerization (JACS).
We were able to extend this further and demonstrate that these building blocks can spontaneously form thin-films through a filament formation mechanism that wraps these atomically-precise magic-sized nanocrystals in a spin-selective manner. A key element here is that our method can impart chirality in a structural, scalable, and hierarchical manner irrespective of the chirality of the starting components. This enables key materials building avenues for various applications within biology, quantum information and quantum processing.
Abstract
Spontaneous hierarchical self-organization of nanometre-scale subunits into higher-level complex structures is ubiquitous in nature. The creation of synthetic nanomaterials that mimic the self-organization of complex superstructures commonly seen in biomolecules has proved challenging due to the lack of biomolecule-like building blocks that feature versatile, programmable interactions to render structural complexity. In this study, highly aligned structures are obtained from an organic–inorganic mesophase composed of monodisperse Cd37S18 magic-size cluster building blocks. Impressively, structural alignment spans over six orders of magnitude in length scale: nanoscale magic-size clusters arrange into a hexagonal geometry organized inside micrometre-sized filaments; self-assembly of these filaments leads to fibres that then organize into uniform arrays of centimetre-scale bands with well-defined surface periodicity. Enhanced patterning can be achieved by controlling processing conditions, resulting in bullseye and ‘zigzag’ stacking patterns with periodicity in two directions. Overall, we demonstrate that colloidal nanomaterials can exhibit a high level of self-organization behaviour at macroscopic-length scales.
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Impact and Engagement:
Details on this work have been covered in multiple news articles that picked up on it below:
Nature Press | Cornell News | Phys.org | Eurekalert | Technology.org | Newswise | Science News | Nanowerk | Science Springs | NanoTech Now. Super excited to see this platform realize it’s potential!