Title | Fractality and metastability of a complex amide cross-linked dipodal alkyl/siloxane hybrid |
Publication Type | Papers in Scientific Journals |
Year of Publication | 2014 |
Authors | Nunes S. C., Ferreira C. B., Ferreira R. A. S., Carlos L. D., Ferro M. C., Mano J. F., Almeida P., and de Zea Bermudez V. |
Abstract | A novel room-temperature white light emitter amide-cross linked alkyl/siloxane hybrid material (amidosil A) was produced by self-organization through the rational design of the precursor. This hybrid displays a highly complex hierarchical architecture composed of two lamellar bilayer structures, the relative spatial arrangement of which yields a multiplicity of ordered nanodomains with variable shapes and sizes, some of them persisting at the microscale. Macroscopically A was obtained as clusters of hydrophobic hemispherical and spherical micro-objects exhibiting a lettuce coral-like pattern, which represent unprecedented pieces of evidence illustrating the principles of self-similarity and demonstrating that the time scale of biomimetic morphogenesis in this non-bridged silsesquioxane is similar to that in biological systems. Heating metastable A above the order/disorder phase transition acted as an externalquake driving the material to another metastable state, which has persisted for more than 12 months, and was manifested as a marked change of all the macroscopic properties. The occurrence of the self-organization process operating on A, instead of a self-directed assembly, is primarily associated with the formation/rupture of hydrogen bonds, therefore supporting that these interactions are critical factors dictating on what side of the self-assembly/self-organization boundary a non-bridged silsesquioxane system will evolve. |
Journal | RSC Advances |
Volume | 4 |
Issue | 103 |
Pagination | 59664-59675 |
Date Published | 2014-10-31 |
DOI | 10.1039/C4RA11300D |
Keywords | amide cross-linked, Biomimetic, Fractality, metastability, self-organization |
Rights | restrictedAccess |
Peer reviewed | yes |
Status | published |