Zhang, R., Zeng, X. and Ungar, G. orcid.org/0000-0002-9743-2656 (2017) Direct AFM observation of individual micelles, tile decorations and tiling rules of a dodecagonal liquid quasicrystal. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 29 (41). 414001. ISSN 0953-8984
Abstract
We performed an atomic force microscopy study of the dendron-based dodecagonal quasicrystal, the material that had been reported in 2004 as the first soft quasicrystal. We succeeded in orienting the 12-fold axis perpendicular to the substrate, which allowed imaging of the quasiperiodic xy plane. Thus for the first time we could obtain direct real-space information not only on the arrangement of the tiles, but also on their "decorations" by the individual spherical micelles or "nanoatoms". The high-resolution patterns recorded confirm the square-triangle tiling, but the abundance of the different nodes corresponds closely to random tiling rather than to any inflation rule. The previously proposed model of three types of decorated tiles, two triangular and one square, has been confirmed, and the basic Frank-Kasper mode of alternating dense-sparse-dense-sparse layer stacking along z is confirmed too, each of the four sublayers being 2 nm thick. The consecutive dense layers are seen to be rotated by 90°, as expected. The 2 nm steps on the surface correspond to one layer of spheres, however with a dense layer always remaining on top, which implies a layer slip underneath and possibly the existence of screw dislocations.
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Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI |
Keywords: | Frank-Kasper phase; atomic force microscopy; cubic phase; dendrimer; liquid crystal; self-assembly; thin film |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/K034308/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 14 Sep 2017 11:47 |
Last Modified: | 14 Sep 2017 11:49 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-648X/aa818a |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing: Hybrid Open Access |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1361-648X/aa818a |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:121062 |
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