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Materials science

Asymmetry the easy way

Nature volume 398, pages 107–108 (1999)Cite this article

From the atomic scale to the macroscopic, symmetry pervades nature. Crystalline materials, for example, can be described by any one of 230 space filling symmetry groups, which optimize energetic interactions between atoms or molecules. Self-assembled systems generally form with a point, line or plane of symmetry. This natural tendency towards symmetric structures has been the bane of self-assembled systems in applications ranging from liquid-crystal displays to frequency modulators to optical switches. On page 137of this issue, Stadler and colleagues1 demonstrate a novel approach to producing a material that self-assembles to form a non-centrosymmetric layered nanostructure.

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Figure 1: Diblock and triblock copolymer morphologies.
Figure 2: Diblock/triblock copolymer blends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Polymer Science and Engineering Department, Conte Building, University of Massachusetts, Amherst , 01003, Massachusetts, USA

    Samuel P. Gido

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  1. Samuel P. Gido
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Gido, S. Asymmetry the easy way. Nature 398, 107–108 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/18114

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/18114

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