Emergent rhombus tilings from molecular interactions with M-fold rotational symmetry

We show that model molecules with particular rotational symmetries can self-assemble into network structures equivalent to rhombus tilings. This assembly happens in an emergent way, in the sense that molecules spontaneously select irregular fourfold local coordination from a larger set of possible l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Whitelam, Stephen, Tamblyn, Isaac, Garrahan, Juan P., Beton, Peter H.
Format: Article
Published: American Physical Society 2015
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34754/
Description
Summary:We show that model molecules with particular rotational symmetries can self-assemble into network structures equivalent to rhombus tilings. This assembly happens in an emergent way, in the sense that molecules spontaneously select irregular fourfold local coordination from a larger set of possible local binding geometries. The existence of such networks can be rationalized by simple geometrical arguments, but the same arguments do not guarantee a network’s spontaneous self-assembly. This class of structures must in certain regimes of parameter space be able to reconfigure into networks equivalent to triangular tilings.