Scrolling, Braiding and Branching in Fibrous Soft Materials

想想编织在人类社会进化的宏观尺度上是多么有用。将天然纤维转化为绳索、编织物和织物，已经在建筑、勘探、纺织品和艺术领域取得了巨大进步。在生物学领域，纤维缠结的方式也非常重要。缠结或缠结的纤维存在于DNA和严重的蛋白质错误折叠疾病中，如淀粉样变性，并且是老年症状的原因。纤维缠结在聚合物化学中也具有巨大的工业重要性（例如，缠结会产生使聚乙烯袋撕裂的弱点），并且在凝胶，润滑剂和面霜中发现了纤维组件（例如，想想发胶，钻孔“泥”，隐形眼镜和药丸涂层）。在自然界中，纤维使攀缘植物能够根据非常微妙的规则围绕支撑物，这些规则并不明显。这些纤维组装体中的许多是无序发生的，并且即使对纤维组分有很好的理解，也难以预测松散材料的性质。该研究项目旨在创建受控的，定义明确的纤维，其演变为复杂的（有时称为“紧急”）组件可以详细研究。我们将研究纤维如何通过分子聚集和分子片的滚动形成，它如何通过表面附着和编织缠绕，以及它如何通过缺陷形成和缠绕分支，最终产生我们熟悉的自然和日常材料在我们周围的世界。

Think about how useful braiding has been on the macroscopic scale in the context of the evolution of human society. The transformation of natural fibres into ropes, plaits and weaves has given rise to huge advances in construction, exploration, textiles and art. In biology the way in which fibre entangle is also hugely important. Tangled or entwined fibres are found in DNA and in serious protein misfolding diseases such as amyloidosis, and are responsible for the symptoms of old age. Fibre entanglement is also of huge industrial importance in polymer chemistry (entanglements create weak points that make your polythene bag tear, for example) and fibrous assemblies are found in gels, lubricants and creams (think hair gel, drilling 'mud', contact lenses and pill coatings, for example). In Nature fibres allow climbing plants to encircle a support according to quite subtle rules that are not readily apparent. Many of these fibrous assemblies occur chaotically and it is difficult to predict what the properties of the bulk material will be even with a good understanding of the fibrous components. This research project aims to create controlled, well-defined fibres whose evolution into complex (sometimes called 'emergent') assemblies can be studied in detail. We will examine how a fibre forms through aggregation of molecules and scrolling of molecular sheets, how it entwines through surface attachment and braiding, and how it branches through defect formation and entanglement, ultimately giving rise to the natural and everyday materials we are familiar with in the world around us.