Seeking Regularity from Irregular Structure in Soft Materials
발표자
()
초록
내용
Biological morphogenesis has inspired many efficient strategies to diversify material structure and functionality using a fixed set of components. However, implementation of morphogenesis concepts to design soft nanomaterials is underexplored. Here we present nanomorphogenesis in the form of the 3D crumpling of polyamide membranes used for commercial molecular separation, through an unprecedented integration of electron tomography, reaction–diffusion theory, machine learning, and liquid-phase atomic force microscopy. 3D tomograms showed that the spatial arrangement of crumples scales with monomer concentrations in a form quantitatively consistent with a Turing instability. Membrane microenvironments quantified from the nanomorphologies of crumple were combined with the Spiegler–Kedem model to accurately predict methanol permeance. Our work forged quantitative links between synthesis and performance in polymer thin films, which can be applicable to diverse soft nanomaterials.