Fig. 7: Nano-mechanics of soft-templated hierarchical helical morphology.
From: Directed self-assembly of chiral liquid crystals into biomimetic bouligand structures in thin film
a Schematic of the atomic force microscopy (AFM) setup used for nanoscale dynamic mechanical analysis (nDMA). Polarized optical microscopy images of the (b) soft-templated randomly oriented cholesteric phase CLCs and (c) hierarchical helical morphology (HH). d AFM height sensor images of the CLCs and hierarchical helical structure (HH). e Static Modulus of the film for CLCs and HH structure calculated using the DMT method. f–h Mechanical properties of CLCs and HH structure calculated from nDMA examination. f Storage modulus, g loss modulus, h loss tangent. Data are presented as mean ± SEM, n = 5 independent measurements.
