@article {18227,
	title = {Fractality and metastability of a complex amide cross-linked dipodal alkyl/siloxane hybrid},
	journal = {RSC Advances},
	volume = {4},
	year = {2014},
	month = {2014-10-31 00:00:00},
	pages = {59664-59675},
	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.},
	keywords = {amide cross-linked, Biomimetic, Fractality, metastability, self-organization},
	doi = {10.1039/C4RA11300D},
	author = {Nunes, S. C. and Ferreira, C. B. and Ferreira, R. A. S. and Carlos, L. D. and Ferro, M. C. and Mano, J. F. and Almeida, P. and de Zea Bermudez, V.}
}
