Journal article
Self-assembly of magnetite nanocubes into helical superstructures
Science, Vol.345(6201), pp.1149-1153
Sep/2014
Abstract
Organizing inorganic nanocrystals into complex architectures is challenging and typically relies on preexisting templates, such as properly folded DNA or polypeptide chains. We found that under carefully controlled conditions, cubic nanocrystals of magnetite self-assemble into arrays of helical superstructures in a template-free manner with >99% yield. Computer simulations revealed that the formation of helices is determined by the interplay of van der Waals and magnetic dipole-dipole interactions, Zeeman coupling, and entropic forces and can be attributed to spontaneous formation of chiral nanocube clusters. Neighboring helices within their densely packed ensembles tended to adopt the same handedness in order to maximize packing, thus revealing a novel mechanism of symmetry breaking and chirality amplification.
Details
- Title
- Self-assembly of magnetite nanocubes into helical superstructures
- Creators
- Gurvinder Singh (null)Henry Chan (null)Artem Baskin (null)Elijah Gelman (null)Nikita Repnin (null)Petr Kral (null)Rafal Klajn (null) - The Weizmann Institute of Science
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Science, Vol.345(6201), pp.1149-1153; Sep/2014
- Number of pages
- 5
- Language
- English
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1254132
- Grant note
- Israel Science Foundation [1463/11]; G. M. J. Schmidt-Minerva Center for Supramolecular Architectures; Minerva Foundation; NSF Division of Materials Research [1309765]; American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund [53062-ND6]; Federal German Ministry for Education and ResearchSupported by Israel Science Foundation grant 1463/11, the G. M. J. Schmidt-Minerva Center for Supramolecular Architectures, and the Minerva Foundation with funding from the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research (R. K.) and by NSF Division of Materials Research grant 1309765 and American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund grant 53062-ND6 (P.K.)._ALMAME_DELIMITER_
- Record Identifier
- 993265647503596
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