title: Emergent rhombus tilings from molecular interactions with M-fold rotational symmetry.
abstract: We show that model molecules with particular rotational symmetries can self-assemble into network structures equivalent to rhombus tilings. This assembly happens in an emergent way, in the sense that molecules spontaneously select irregular fourfold local coordination from a larger set of possible local binding geometries. The existence of such networks can be rationalized by simple geometrical arguments, but the same arguments do not guarantee a network's spontaneous self-assembly. This class of structures must in certain regimes of parameter space be able to reconfigure into networks equivalent to triangular tilings.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whitelam
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7K4, Canada.
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tamblyn
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Juan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Garrahan
authors.affiliation: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Beton