Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal
Abstract Supramolecular chirality typically originates from either chiral molecular building blocks or external chiral stimuli. Generating chirality in achiral systems in the absence of a chiral input, however, is non-trivial and necessitates spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking. Achiral nematic lyo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43978-6 |
| _version_ | 1797355643558952960 |
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| author | Qing Zhang Weiqiang Wang Shuang Zhou Rui Zhang Irmgard Bischofberger |
| author_facet | Qing Zhang Weiqiang Wang Shuang Zhou Rui Zhang Irmgard Bischofberger |
| author_sort | Qing Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Supramolecular chirality typically originates from either chiral molecular building blocks or external chiral stimuli. Generating chirality in achiral systems in the absence of a chiral input, however, is non-trivial and necessitates spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking. Achiral nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals have been reported to break mirror symmetry under strong surface or geometric constraints. Here we describe a previously unrecognised mechanism for creating chiral structures by subjecting the material to a pressure-driven flow in a microfluidic cell. The chirality arises from a periodic double-twist configuration of the liquid crystal and manifests as a striking stripe pattern. We show that the mirror symmetry breaking is triggered at regions of flow-induced biaxial-splay configurations of the director field, which are unstable to small perturbations and evolve into lower energy structures. The simplicity of this unique pathway to mirror symmetry breaking can shed light on the requirements for forming macroscopic chiral structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:14:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-582daf366bd9462fabbd739d9666549f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T14:14:05Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-582daf366bd9462fabbd739d9666549f2024-01-14T12:28:32ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232024-01-011511910.1038/s41467-023-43978-6Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystalQing Zhang0Weiqiang Wang1Shuang Zhou2Rui Zhang3Irmgard Bischofberger4Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyDepartment of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Physics, University of Massachusetts AmherstDepartment of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAbstract Supramolecular chirality typically originates from either chiral molecular building blocks or external chiral stimuli. Generating chirality in achiral systems in the absence of a chiral input, however, is non-trivial and necessitates spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking. Achiral nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals have been reported to break mirror symmetry under strong surface or geometric constraints. Here we describe a previously unrecognised mechanism for creating chiral structures by subjecting the material to a pressure-driven flow in a microfluidic cell. The chirality arises from a periodic double-twist configuration of the liquid crystal and manifests as a striking stripe pattern. We show that the mirror symmetry breaking is triggered at regions of flow-induced biaxial-splay configurations of the director field, which are unstable to small perturbations and evolve into lower energy structures. The simplicity of this unique pathway to mirror symmetry breaking can shed light on the requirements for forming macroscopic chiral structures.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43978-6 |
| spellingShingle | Qing Zhang Weiqiang Wang Shuang Zhou Rui Zhang Irmgard Bischofberger Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal Nature Communications |
| title | Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| title_full | Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| title_fullStr | Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| title_full_unstemmed | Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| title_short | Flow-induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| title_sort | flow induced periodic chiral structures in an achiral nematic liquid crystal |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43978-6 |
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