Natural Sciences lecture series
Brian Moulton of Brown University discusses Crystal Engineering with NKS
As a crystallographer, Brian is interested in crystal growth and structure, and has observed that in certain cases, many types of crystal lattices could form, and yet do not. Curious as to what other forms might be possible, Brian applied NKS techniques to attempt to model crystal growth.
At last year's NKS Summer School, Brian and Stephen Wolfram did a live experiment in an attempt to find new structures in 2D lattices, starting with a seed lattice, using "T"-shaped molecular pieces. This required a refinement step to connect loose legs of the "T" shape. At the time, this method failed to produce the desired results.
Brian then attempted a new method, starting with a seed cluster of molecules, and then substituted more clusters onto the branched ends of the cluster. This led a model of a new type of substance, porous coordination polymer gels, which includes composite materials, xerogels and aerogels with interesting properties. Once the solvent is evaporated from the xerogel, its structure collapses into a film. Depending on the structure of the polymer, the resulting material can be stiff or flexible, or have other useful properties.
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