The discovery could provide new opportunities for photonic materials that can control light differently than natural crystals. Additionally, it demonstrated a peculiar outcome that the group called entropy compartmentalization.
The tendency of a system to maximize its conceivable states is more appropriately reflected by entropy, which is sometimes characterized as a system’s disorder. Advanced Materials eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a free copy Water molecules that surround methane to create cages make up fire ice, which can melt and burn simultaneously. This material is an example of a clathrate and is widely distributed beneath the ocean floor.
This time, we investigated what happens if we change the shape of the particle. We reasoned that if we truncate the particle a little, it would create space in the cage made by the bipyramid particles. He removed the three middle corners from each bipyramid and found the sweet spot where openings occurred in the structure, but the sides were still intact enough to prevent the pyramids from reorganizing.
Glotzer added, “What is really fascinating, looking at the simulations, is that the host network is almost frozen. The host particles move, but they all move together like a single, rigid object, which is exactly what happens with water clathrates. But the guest particles are spinning around like crazy—like the system dumped all the entropy into the guest particles.”
Glotzer further stated, “Entropy compartmentalization. Isn’t that cool? I bet that happens in other systems too—not just clathrates.”