Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: We demonstrate that an achiral stretching force transforms disk-shaped colloidal membranes composed of chiral rods into twisted ribbons with handedness opposite the preferred twist of the rods. Using an experimental technique that enforces torque-free boundary conditions we simultaneously measure the force-extension curve and the ribbon shape. An effective theory that accounts for the membrane bending energy and uses geometric properties of the edge to model the internal liquid crystalline degrees of freedom explains both the measured force-extension curve and the force-induced twisted shape.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Language: English
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2938520875