Pressure-induced lock-in in an aperiodic nanoporous crystal.
This Letter reports on the first observation of a commensurate lock-in inside an aperiodic composite. This result is obtained by neutron diffraction, under hydrostatic pressure, in the prototype self-assembled crystal of hexadecane urea. A selective compressibility of the sublattices is a required condition together with the existence of a lock-in energy term in these supramolecular materials. This measurement, under one-dimensional confinement, opens the way for the use of continuously controlled forces to manipulate molecular properties or functions.
Toudic
B
B
Groupe Matière Condensée et Matériaux UMR CNRS 6626, Université de Rennes 1, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France.
Aubert
F
F
Ecolivet
C
C
Bourges
P
P
Breczewski
T
T