Gilroy Kyle D, Peng Hsin-Chieh, Yang Xuan, Ruditskiy Aleksey, Xia Younan
The Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
Chem Commun (Camb). 2017 Apr 20;53(33):4530-4541. doi: 10.1039/c7cc01121k.
Symmetry breaking is a ubiquitous phenomenon that occurs spontaneously when a system is subjected to changes in size and/or variations in terms of thermodynamic parameters. As a stochastic process, even small fluctuations acting on a system can arbitrarily push it down one of the branches of a bifurcation. In this feature article, we use nanocrystal growth to illustrate the concept of symmetry breaking. Our aim is to convey its importance from a mechanistic perspective, by which one can rationally alter the experimental conditions to manipulate the growth pattern (symmetric vs. asymmetric) and thus generate colloidal nanocrystals with controlled shapes, structures, and properties for various applications.
对称性破缺是一种普遍存在的现象，当系统在尺寸上发生变化和/或在热力学参数方面存在差异时，它会自发出现。作为一个随机过程，即使是作用于系统的微小波动也可能将其任意推向分岔的一个分支。在这篇专题文章中，我们用纳米晶体生长来说明对称性破缺的概念。我们的目的是从机理的角度传达其重要性，通过这一角度，人们可以合理改变实验条件来操控生长模式（对称与不对称），从而生成具有可控形状、结构和性质的胶体纳米晶体，以用于各种应用。
