Interplay of structure, elasticity, and dynamics in actin-based nematic materials
Abstract
Thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs) are central to a wide range of commercial and emerging technologies. Lyotropic, aqueous-based LCs are common in nature, but applications have been scarce. The current understanding of their behavior is limited, and manipulating their mechanical and dynamic characteristics has been challenging. Here we show that the elasticity and temporal evolution of biopolymer-based nematic systems can be inferred from simple optical microscopy measurements, and that their mechanical properties can be manipulated by adjusting certain molecular characteristics, such as the product of length and concentration. It is also shown that the dynamic evolution of the resulting materials can be understood and predicted on the basis of a free energy functional originally developed for the study of thermotropic systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1713832115
Entities
People
- Jennifer L. Ross
- Juan J. de Pablo
- Margaret Gardel
- Nitin Kumar
- Rui Zhang
Organizations
- Argonne National Laboratory
- National Science Foundation
- United States Army
- University of Chicago
- University of Massachusetts Amherst