Emergence of Polygonal Shapes in Oil Droplets and Living Cells: The Potential Role of Tensegrity in the Origin of Life

Gordon, Richard; Hanczyc, Martin M.; Denkov, Nikolai; Tiffany, Mary Ann; Smoukov, Stoyan K.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-811940-2.00018-6

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 271 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The nature of the mechanism driving these effects in the present system is still under debate. , Nevertheless, these effects clearly open new routes for synthesizing faceted nanoparticles , for controlled-release drug delivery in the human body, , possibly through the temperature-tunable self-emulsification, and for new industrial-scale emulsification protocols . These effects also potentially provide a very simple experimental model of biosystems’ morphogenesis and protocell division …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…9 These effects also potentially provide a very simple experimental model of biosystems' morphogenesis and protocell division. 14 Further progress in elucidating the underlying mechanism of faceting and in developing its nanoscale applications has been severely limited by the fact that only conventional light microscopy has been used in all studies to date. For example, the droplet faceting has been attributed to either the formation of a 2 nm thick crystalline monolayer at the droplet's surface and the domination of its elasticity over the vanishingly small interfacial tension of the droplet 1−3 or to the formation of a 300 nm thick, 1 μm radius, tubular rotator crystal phase at the surface.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nanostructures, Faceting, and Splitting in Nanoliter to Yoctoliter Liquid Droplets

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Contrary to everyday experience, where all liquid droplets assume rounded, near-spherical shapes, the temperature-tuning of liquid droplets to faceted polyhedral shapes and to spontaneous splitting has been recently demonstrated in oil-in-water emulsions. However, the elucidation of the mechanism driving these surprising effects, as well as their many potential applications, ranging from faceted nanoparticle synthesis through new industrial emulsification routes to controlled-release drug delivery within the human body, have been severely hampered by the micron-scale resolution of the light microscopy employed to date in all in situ studies. Thus, the thickness of the interfacially frozen crystalline monolayer, suggested to drive these effects, could not be directly measured, and the low limit on the droplet size still showing these effects remained unknown. In this study, we employ a combination of super-resolution stimulated emission depletion microscopy, cryogenic transmission and freeze-fracture electron microscopy, to study these effects well into the nanometer length scale. We demonstrate the occurrence of the faceting transition in droplets spanning an incredible 12 decades in volume from nanoliters to yoctoliters and directly visualize the interfacially frozen, few nanometer thick, crystalline monolayer suggested to drive these effects. Furthermore, our measurements allow placing an upper-limit estimate on the two-dimensional Young modulus of the interfacial nanometer-thick surface crystal in the smallest droplets, providing insights into the virtually unexplored domain of nanoelasticity.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanostructures, Faceting, and Splitting in Nanoliter to Yoctoliter Liquid Droplets

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recently, temperature-tuned self-shaping transitions have been reported in water-suspended, surfactant-stabilized oil droplets. − The counterintuitive polyhedral liquid droplets formed in these transitions have been observed in many different surfactant/oil combinations spanning a broad range of transition temperatures and droplet shapes. The fundamental mechanisms of self-shaping, observed in these simple emulsions, enable new approaches in emulsion-based material science, , may play a role in the morphogenesis of bio-organisms and in protein positioning on biomembranes, and could have been involved in protocell division at the origin of life. , The shape transitions were found to occur in droplets of sizes spanning an incredible 13 decades in volume, from nanoliters (11 × 10 –9 ) to yoctoliters (300 × 10 –24 ) . The transitions shed light on the fundamentals of the nanometer-scale elasticity, allow new types of nanoparticles to be formed, and open new routes to the formation of highly controllable emulsions. , Yet, the mechanism of self-shaping remains controversial, hampering a full exploitation of these effects in many applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Polyhedral Water Droplets: Shape Transitions and Mechanism

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While classical liquid droplets are rounded, transitions have recently been discovered which render polyhedral water-suspended droplets of several oils. Yet, the mechanism of these transitions and the role of the droplets’ interfacial curvature in inducing these transitions remain controversial. In particular, one of the two mechanisms suggested mandates a convex interface, in a view from the oil side. Here we show that oil-suspended water droplets can spontaneously assume polyhedral shapes, in spite of their concave interface. These results strongly support the alternative mechanism, where the faceting in both oil and water droplets is driven by the elasticity of a crystalline monolayer, known to self-assemble at the oil–water interface, independent of its curvature. The faceting transitions in the water droplets allow the fundamental elastic properties of two-dimensional matter to be probed, enable new strategies in faceted nanoparticle and nanoshell synthesis, and provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis.

show abstract

“…34 Molecular dynamics tools to model rotator phase transitions were only recently established, 35 but the main stages of the observed dropshape evolution sequence were explained with a theoretical model which analysed the energy dependence on the droplet shape, with included both the drop surface energy and the energy of the forming plastic frame. 36,37 The observed shapes were interpreted and discussed 38 also as a new type of "tensegrity" (tensorial integrity) structures 39 which acquire mechanical stability by balancing the compression stress of the interfacial tension with the rigidity of the plastic frame forming at the drop surface. In the new class of oil-surfactant systems described here, the previously observed transformations occur very quickly and the drops rapidly transmute into swimmers (Figure 1, Videos 1-3).…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rechargeable self-assembled droplet microswimmers driven by surface phase transitions

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The design of artificial microswimmers is often inspired by the strategies of natural microorganisms. Many of these creatures exploit the fact that elasticity breaks the timereversal symmetry of motion at low Reynolds numbers, but this principle has been notably absent from model systems of active, self-propelled microswimmers. Here we introduce a class of microswimmer that spontaneously self-assembles and swims without using external forces, driven instead by surface phase transitions induced by temperature variations. The swimmers are made from alkane droplets dispersed in aqueous surfactant solution, which start to self-propel upon cooling, pushed by rapidly growing thin elastic tails. When heated, the same droplets recharge by retracting their tails, swimming for up to tens of minutes in each cycle. Thermal oscillations of approximately 5°C induce the swimmers to harness heat from the environment and recharge multiple times. We develop a detailed elastohydrodynamic model of these processes and highlight the molecular mechanisms involved. The system offers a convenient platform for examining symmetry breaking in the motion of swimmers exploiting flagellar elasticity. The mild conditions and biocompatible media render these microswimmers potential probes for studying biological propulsion and interactions between artificial and biological swimmers.

show abstract

Emergence of Polygonal Shapes in Oil Droplets and Living Cells: The Potential Role of Tensegrity in the Origin of Life

Cited by 12 publications

References 271 publications

Nanostructures, Faceting, and Splitting in Nanoliter to Yoctoliter Liquid Droplets

Nanostructures, Faceting, and Splitting in Nanoliter to Yoctoliter Liquid Droplets

Polyhedral Water Droplets: Shape Transitions and Mechanism

Rechargeable self-assembled droplet microswimmers driven by surface phase transitions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About