title: Soft spherical nanostructures with a dodecagonal quasicrystal-like order.
abstract: We develop a theory which predicts curvature-related structural peculiarities of soft spherical nanostructures with a dodecagonal local arrangement of subunits. Spherical templates coated with a thin film of a soft quasicrystal (QC)-forming material constitute the most promising direction to realize these nanostructures. Disordered and perfect spherical nanostructures are simulated using two approaches. The first of them models a random QC-like spherical nanostructure with extended curvature-induced topological defects similar to scars in colloidal spherical crystals. The second approach is inspired by the physics of viral capsids. It deals with the most regular spherical nanostructures with a local QC-like order derived from three well-known planar dodecagonal tilings. We explain how the additional QC-like degrees of freedom assist the nanostructure stabilization and determine the point defect number and location without extended scar formation. Unusual for nanoassemblies snub cube geometry is shown to be the most energetically favorable global organization of these spherical QC nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Southern Federal University, 5 Zorge str., 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia. rochal_s@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Rochal
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Southern Federal University, 5 Zorge str., 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia. rochal_s@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: O V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Konevtsova
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Southern Federal University, 5 Zorge str., 344090 Rostov-on-Don, Russia. rochal_s@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: I A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Shevchenko
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, UMR 5221 CNRS and Université Montpellier 2, pl. E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Lorman