Here, we report an engineering approach toward multicomponent self-assembly processes by developing a methodology to circumvent spurious, metastable assemblies. The formation of metastable aggregates often hampers self-assembly of molecular building blocks into the desired nanostructures. Strategies are explored to master the pathway complexity and avoid off-pathway aggregates by optimizing the...

Five phase transitions of [Cd(DMSO)6](ClO4)2 have been detected by differential scanning calorimetry, namely the three reversible transitions: stable KIa ↔ stable KIb at TC4 = 242 K, due to a change of the crystal structure, metastable KII ↔ metastable KIII at TC3 = 318 K, and metastable KII ↔ overcooled K0 at TC2 = 347 K, one irreversible transition: KIa → K0 at TC1 = 376 K, and melting at Tt ...

Self-assembled polymeric aggregates are generally polydisperse in morphology due to the existence of many metastable states in the system. This shortcoming becomes a bottleneck for preparing high quality self-assembled polymeric materials. An important concern is the possibility of controlling morphological polydispersity through the modulation of the metastable states. In this study, both simu...

Space resolved concentrations of helium He (S1) metastable atoms in an atmospheric pressure radio-frequency micro-plasma jet were measured using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. The spatial profile of metastable atoms in the volume between the electrodes was deduced for various electrode gap distances. Density profiles reveal the sheath structure and reflect the plasma excitation di...

Using computer simulations, we study metastability in a two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet relaxing toward a nonequilibrium steady state. The interplay between thermal and nonequilibrium fluctuations induces resonant and scale-invariant phenomena not observed in equilibrium. In particular, we measure noise-enhanced stability of the metastable state in a nonequilibrium environment. The limit of m...

The phase diagram of a system consisting of hard spheres with an attractive Yukawa interaction is computed by Monte Carlo simulations. Upon decreasing the range of attraction, we find the following scenarios: (a) a stable fluid-fluid and fluid-solid transition, a triple point with fluid-fluid-solid coexistence, and a metastable isostructural solid-solid transition (b) a fluid-fluid and isostruc...

In Holsnøy (Bergen Arcs, Norway), metastable granulite facies anorthosite rocks are partially eclogitised within hydrous shear zones, that have been interpreted as widening over time with fluid influx and strain. We here present a detailed petrological description of two different metre-scale zones from this area. Within few tens centimetres each zone, the protolith (initially plagioclase + gar...

We present a novel method for the identification of the most important metastable states of a system with complicated dynamical behavior from time series information. The novel approach represents the effective dynamics of the full system by a Markov jump process between metastable states, and the dynamics within each of these metastable states by rather simple stochastic differential equations...

All nanostructures are metastable--but some are more metastable than others. Here we employ aberration-corrected electron microscopy and atomistic computer simulations to demonstrate the hierarchy of metastability in deposited, size-selected gold nanoparticles (clusters), an archetypal class of nanomaterials well known for the catalytic activity which only appears on the nanometer-scale. We sho...