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SUMMARY:Reconfigurable self-assembly through chiral control of interfacial
  tension - Gibaud\, T (cole Normale Suprieure)
DTSTART:20130322T162000Z
DTEND:20130322T164000Z
UID:TALK44078@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Mustapha Amrani
DESCRIPTION:The interfacial tension between molecular species in self-asse
 mbling systems plays a crucial role in determining the physical properties
  of the mesoscopic assemblages. The predominant method for controlling int
 erfacial tension is the addition of surfactant molecules\, which preferent
 ially adsorb onto the interface and modify the interactions between the tw
 o phases. Using a model colloidal membrane (Fig.1) composed of chiral\, ro
 d-like fd-viruses\, I will present a new method for controlling interfacia
 l tension which does not require additional surfactant components\, but in
 stead utilizes the intrinsic chirality of the constituent rods. I will dem
 onstrate that chirality can be used to continuously tune the interfacial t
 ension of a membrane and to drive a dramatic phase transition from two-dim
 ensional membranes to one-dimensional twisted ribbons. Using a wide variet
 y of microscopic techniques\, this transition is characterized over length
 -scales\, ranging from nanometers to microns. Finally\, using optical forc
 es we demonstrate that malleable chiral assemblages can easily be moved\, 
 stretched\, attached to each other\, and transformed between multiple poly
 morphic states\, thus enabling precise assembly and sculpting of highly ad
 aptable materials with complex topologies\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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