Flexible molecular crystals: single crystals that bend, stretch and twist

该项目旨在彻底量化一套金属-有机分子晶体的弹性弹性。自古以来，结晶材料一直被认为是易碎和僵硬的。事实上，晶体可以显示出可察觉的、甚至是非凡的弹性。有些晶体可以弯曲、拉伸和扭曲。分子及其在晶体中的排列对弹性程度的影响将与分子尺度的扭曲机制一起确定。这些信息将被用来设计具有可预测和可调弹性的新晶体，用于以前被认为不可能用于晶体材料的潜在应用。

This project aims to thoroughly quantify the elastic flexibility of a suite of metal-organic molecular crystals. Since antiquity, crystalline materials have been thought to be brittle and inflexible. Crystals can, in fact, display appreciable, even remarkable, elasticity. Some crystals can bend, stretch and twist. The influence that the molecules, and their arrangements in crystals, have on the extent of elasticity will be determined along with molecular-scale mechanisms for contortion. This information will be used to design new crystals with predictable and tunable elasticity for potential applications previously considered impossible for crystalline materials.