Competing forces coax nanocubes into helical structures
Nanocubes are anything but child’s play. Weizmann Institute
scientists have used them to create surprisingly yarn-like strands: They showed
that given the right conditions, cube-shaped nanoparticles are able to align
into winding helical structures. Their results, which reveal how nanomaterials
can self-assemble into unexpectedly beautiful and complex structures, were
recently published in Science.