Crystal twinning of bicontinuous cubic structures

IUCrJ
Lu HanShunai Che

Abstract

Bicontinuous cubic structures in soft matter consist of two intertwining labyrinths separated by a partitioning layer. Combining experiments, numerical modelling and techniques in differential geometry, we investigate twinning defects in bicontinuous cubic structures. We first demonstrate that a twin boundary is most likely to occur at a plane that cuts the partitioning layer almost perpendicularly, so that the perturbation caused by twinning remains minimal. This principle can be used as a criterion to identify potential twin boundaries, as demonstrated through detailed investigations of mesoporous silica crystals characterized by diamond and gyroid surfaces. We then discuss that a twin boundary can result from a stacking fault in the arrangement of inter-lamellar attachments at an early stage of structure formation. It is further shown that enhanced curvature fluctuations near the twin boundary would cost energy because of geometrical frustration, which would be eased by a crystal distortion that is experimentally observed.

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Citations

Mar 17, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Xueyan FengEdwin L Thomas
Aug 20, 2021·Langmuir : the ACS Journal of Surfaces and Colloids·Hong-Kai LiuWei Wang

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
transmission electron microscopy
electron-scattering
electron diffraction
X-ray

Software Mentioned

CloudCompare
MesoPoreImage
Surface Evolver

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