The Zhao Group is a polymer chemistry research group, focusing on responsive, functional soft and hybrid materials.
The group recently published their work “Breaking translational symmetry via polymer chain overcrowding in molecular bottlebrush crystallization” in Nature Communication.
The research focuses on the fundamental laws in crystallization is translational symmetry. This piece reports on the spontaneous formation of spherical hollow crystals with broken translational symmetry in crystalline molecular bottlebrush (mBB) polymers. This study unravels a new principle of spontaneous translational symmetry breaking, providing a general route towards designing versatile nanostructures.