Shape Entropy of a Reconfigurable Ising Surface

Abstract

Disclinations in a 2D sheet create regions of Gaussian curvature whose inversion produces a reconfigurable surface with many distinct metastable shapes, as shown by molecular dynamics of a disclinated graphene monolayer. This material has a near-Gaussian "density of shapes" and an effectively antiferromagnetic interaction between adjacent cones. A $\sim10$ nm patch has hundreds of distinct metastable shapes with tunable stability and topography on the size scale of biomolecules. As every conical disclination provides an Ising-like degree of freedom, we call this technique "Isigami".