Topology-driven surface patterning of liquid spheres

Surfaces of classical spherical liquid droplets are isotropic, promoting the random distribution of surface-adsorbed molecules 1 . Here we demonstrate a counterintuitive temperature-controlled self-assembly of well-defined and highly ordered patterns of surface-adsorbed fluorescent molecules on the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature physics 2022-10, Vol.18 (10), p.1177-1180
Main Authors: Das, Subhomoy, Butenko, Alexander V., Mastai, Yitzhak, Deutsch, Moshe, Sloutskin, Eli
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/923/966
639/766/119/2792/4129
639/766/119/544
639/766/94
Adsorbates
Adsorption
Atomic
Classical and Continuum Physics
Complex Systems
Condensed Matter Physics
Crystal defects
Crystal structure
Crystallinity
Droplets
Energy
Fluorescence
Freezing
Interfaces
Isotropy
Letter
Ligands
Mathematical and Computational Physics
Microscopy
Molecular
Monolayers
Optical and Plasma Physics
Patterning
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
Self-assembly
Stress distribution
Surfactants
Temperature
Theoretical
Topology
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Summary:Surfaces of classical spherical liquid droplets are isotropic, promoting the random distribution of surface-adsorbed molecules 1 . Here we demonstrate a counterintuitive temperature-controlled self-assembly of well-defined and highly ordered patterns of surface-adsorbed fluorescent molecules on the surfaces of water-suspended spherical oil droplets. These patterns are induced by precisely self-positioned, topology-dictated structural defects in a crystalline monolayer covering these droplets’ surfaces over a wide temperature range. We elucidate the pattern formation mechanism, visualize the defects’ positions and map the stress fields within the surface crystal. The observed phenomena provide insights into the interfacial freezing effect on curved surfaces, enable precise positioning of functional ligands on droplets for their self-assembly into higher-hierarchy structures 2 – 6 and may also play an important role in vital protein positioning on cell membranes 7 and morphogenesis 8 – 12 . The isotropy of a spherical droplet’s surface causes uniform distribution of adsorbed molecules. However, wrapping the droplet by a crystalline monolayer induces structural defects, enabling temperature-controllable positioning of adsorbates.
ISSN:1745-2473
1745-2481
DOI:10.1038/s41567-022-01705-w