Structure and Conductivity of Semiconducting Polymer Hydrogels.

Poly(fluorene-alt-thiophene) (PFT) is a conjugated polyelectrolyte that self-assembles into rod-like micelles in water, with the conjugated polymer backbone running along the length of the micelle. At modest concentrations (∼10 mg/mL in aqueous solutions), PFT forms hydrogels, and this work focuses on understanding the structure and intermolecular interactions in those gel networks. The network structure can be directly visualized using cryo electron microscopy.

Entropic chiral symmetry breaking in self-organized two-dimensional colloidal crystals.

Long-range chiral symmetry breaking (CSB) has been recently observed in 2D self-organized rhombic crystals of hard, achiral, 72 degree rhombic microparticles. However, purely entropic selection of a CSB crystal in an idealized system of hard achiral shapes, in which attractions are entirely absent and the shape does not dictate a chiral tiling, has not yet been quantitatively predicted. Overcoming limitations of a purely rotational cage model, we investigate a translational-rotational cage model (TRCM) of dense systems of hard achiral rhombs and quantitatively demonstrate that entropy can spontaneously drive the preferential self-organization of a chiral crystal composed of achiral shapes that also tile into an achiral crystal.

Rotational Fourier tracking of diffusing polygons.

We use optical microscopy to measure the rotational Brownian motion of polygonal platelets that are dispersed in a liquid and confined by depletion attractions near a wall. The depletion attraction inhibits out-of-plane translational and rotational Brownian fluctuations, thereby facilitating in-plane imaging and video analysis. By taking fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) of the images and analyzing the angular position of rays in the FFTs, we determine an isolated particle's rotational trajectory, independent of its position.