Flexible Crystals. Crystalline materials are considered to be brittle and inflexible. Some molecular crystals have, however, recently been found to have remarkable elasticity and can bend and stretch

Description

Flexible Crystals. Crystalline materials are considered to be brittle and inflexible. Some molecular crystals have, however, recently been found to have remarkable elasticity and can bend and stretch sufficiently to be tied into a knot. This project aims to explicitly understand why some metal-organic molecular crystals are flexible and others are not. This project will generate new knowledge on the mechanical properties of the crystals and the molecular-scale mechanisms for contortion will be determined and correlated to provide structure-function relationships. This will allow the design of new flexible crystals for applications previously considered impossible for crystals, benefiting the economy through development of new high-value materials.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 3403 - Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry. Lead: Prof Jack Clegg