Soft spherical nanostructures with a dodecagonal quasicrystal-like order

Abstract

We develop a theory which predicts curvature-related structural peculiarities of soft spherical nanostructures with a dodecagonal local arrangement of subunits. Spherical templates coated with a thin film of a soft quasicrystal (QC)-forming material constitute the most promising direction to realize these nanostructures. Disordered and perfect spherical nanostructures are simulated using two approaches. The first of them models a random QC-like spherical nanostructure with extended curvature-induced topological defects similar to scars in colloidal spherical crystals. The second approach is inspired by the physics of viral capsids. It deals with the most regular spherical nanostructures with a local QC-like order derived from three well-known planar dodecagonal tilings. We explain how the additional QC-like degrees of freedom assist the nanostructure stabilization and determine the point defect number and location without extended scar formation. Unusual for nanoassemblies snub cube geometry is shown to be the most energetically favorable global organization of these spherical QC nanostructures.