| 1. |
- Han, Lu, et al.
(författare)
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Crystal twinning of bicontinuous cubic structures
- 2020
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Ingår i: IUCrJ. - 2052-2525. ; 7, s. 228-237
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)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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| 2. |
- Han, Lu, et al.
(författare)
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Silica-Based Nanoporous Materials
- 2014
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Ingår i: Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeines Chemie. - : Wiley. - 0044-2313 .- 1521-3749. ; 640:3-4, s. 521-536
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ordered nanoporous structures are among the most fascinating and industrially important materials currently in use. The archetypal zeolite material has now been joined by an eclectic array of new structures that exhibit porosity over a wide range of length scales and with order/disorder expressed in a multitude of ways. This raises the bar in terms of characterization and extends a real challenge to the scientific community to fully understand the properties and potential future applications of such materials. In this review we discuss the importance of modern microscopy tools combined with diffraction in this endeavour and show how the details of even the most complex quasi-crystalline nanoporous architectures can be elucidated. We show by using the appropriate spherical aberration (C-s) corrections in scanning transmission electron microscopy it is possible to decipher all the individual silicon and aluminum atoms in a zeolite structure. Automated routines for using large electron diffraction datasets for crystal structure determination of nanocrystals is described making the need for large single crystal synthesis less-and-less important. The power of complementary combinations of surface tools such as atomic force microscopy and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy is discussed to elucidate crystal growth mechanisms. For mesoporous materials synthesized from self-organized organic mesophases electron microscopy reveals the details of the complex hierarchy of porosity so crucial for the functional performance of the structure.
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| 3. |
- Liu, Zheng, et al.
(författare)
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A review of fine structures of nanoporous materials as evidenced by microscopic methods
- 2013
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Ingår i: Microscopy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2050-5698 .- 2050-5701. ; 62:1, s. 109-146
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reviews diverse capabilities offered by modern electron microscopy techniques in studying fine structures of nanoporous crystals such as zeolites, silica mesoporous crystals, metal organic frameworks and yolk-shell materials. For the case of silica mesoporous crystals, new approaches that have been developed recently to determine the three-dimensionally periodic average structure, e. g., through self-consistent analysis of electron microscope images or through consideration of accidental extinctions, are presented. Various structural deviations in nanoporous materials from their average structures including intergrowth, surface termination, incommensurate modulation, quasicrystal and defects are demonstrated. Ibidem observations of the scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope give information about the zeolite-crystal-growth mechanism, and an energy for unstitching a building-unit from a crystal surface is directly observed by an anatomic force microscope. It is argued how these observations lead to a deeper understanding of the materials.
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| 4. |
- Miyasaka, Keiichi, et al.
(författare)
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The role of curvature in silica mesoporous crystals
- 2012
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Ingår i: Interface Focus. - : The Royal Society. - 2042-8898 .- 2042-8901. ; 2:5, s. 634-644
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Silica mesoporous crystals (SMCs) offer a unique opportunity to study micellar mesophases. Replication of non-equilibrium mesophases into porous silica structures allows the characterization of surfactant phases under a variety of chemical and physical perturbations, through methods not typically accessible to liquid crystal chemists. A poignant example is the use of electron microscopy and crystallography, as discussed herein, for the purpose of determining the fundamental role of amphiphile curvature, namely mean curvature and Gaussian curvature, which have been extensively studied in various fields such as polymer, liquid crystal, biological membrane, etc. The present work aims to highlight some current studies devoted to the interface curvature on SMCs, in which electron microscopy and electron crystallography (EC) are used to understand the geometry of silica wall surface in bicontinuous and cage-type mesostructures through the investigation of electrostatic potential maps. Additionally, we show that by altering the synthesis conditions during the preparation of SMCs, it is possible to isolate particles during micellar mesophase transformations in the cubic bicontinuous system, allowing us to view and study epitaxial relations under the specific synthesis conditions. By studying the relationship between mesoporous structure, interface curvature and micellar mesophases using electron microscopy and EC, we hope to bring new insights into the formation mechanism of these unique materials but also contribute a new way of understanding periodic liquid crystal systems.
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| 5. |
- Wang, Hongjing, et al.
(författare)
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Shape- and Size-Controlled Synthesis in Hard Templates : Sophisticated Chemical Reduction for Mesoporous Monocrystalline Platinum Nanoparticles
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of the American Chemical Society. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0002-7863 .- 1520-5126. ; 133:37, s. 14526-14529
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we report a novel hard-templating strategy for the synthesis of mesoporous monocrystalline Pt nanopartides (NPs) with uniform shapes and sizes. Mesoporous Pt NPs were successfully prepared through controlled chemical reduction using ascorbic acid by employing 3D bicontinuous mesoporous silica (KIT-6) and 2D mesoporous silica (SBA-15) as a hard template. The particle size could be controlled by changing the reduction time. Interestingly, the Pt replicas prepared from KIT-6 showed polyhedral morphology. The single crystallinity of the Pt fcc structure coherently extended over the whole particle.
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| 6. |
- Xiao, Changhong, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Dodecagonal tiling in mesoporous silica
- 2012
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 487:7407, s. 349-353
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent advances in the fabrication of quasicrystals in soft matter systems have increased the length scales for quasicrystals(1) into the mesoscale range (20 to 500 angstroms). Thus far, dendritic liquid crystals(2), ABC-star polymers(3), colloids(4) and inorganic nanoparticles(5) have been reported to yield quasicrystals. These quasicrystals offer larger length scales than intermetallic quasicrystals (a few angstroms)(1,6), thus potentially leading to optical applications through the realization of a complete photonic bandgap induced via multiple scattering of light waves in virtually all directions(7-9). However, the materials remain far from structurally ideal, in contrast to their intermetallic counterparts, and fine control over the structure through a self-organization process has yet to be attained. Here we use the well-established self-assembly of surfactant micelles to produce a new class of mesoporous silicas, which exhibit 12-fold (dodecagonal) symmetry in both electron diffraction and morphology. Each particle reveals, in the 12-fold cross-section, an analogue of dodecagonal quasicrystals in the centre surrounded by 12 fans of crystalline domains in the peripheral part. The quasicrystallinity has been verified by selected-area electron diffraction and quantitative phason strain analyses on transmission electron microscope images obtained from the central region. We argue that the structure forms through a non-equilibrium growth process, wherein the competition between different micellar configurations has a central role in tuning the structure. A simple theoretical model successfully reproduces the observed features and thus establishes a link between the formation process and the resulting structure.
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