Gil Toombes
Keck SEM

Self-Assembling Supra-Molecular Moire Patterns Combining an ABC copolymer and sol of silica spontaneously forms a material with hundreds of thin (30nm) layers. Once the silica has gelled, the sheets can be isolated by dissolving in solvent and then drying out a droplet. In every sheet, the polymer imprints a periodic (25nm) hexagonal mesh into the silica. The mesh is so regular that when multiple sheets stack on top of each other, their shadows interfere to form Moire patterns. Curiously, under stress the sheets break up into strands consisting of single rows of "mesh" seen in the upper right corner of the image.

Dept: Physics
PI: Sol Gruner