Nanofibril Alignment during Assembly Revealed by an X-ray Scattering-Based Digital Twin

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Biophysics

Background:

• Nanostructure, specifically particle orientation, dictates macroscopic material properties.
• Controlling nanostructure is crucial for advancing nanotechnology applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a method for understanding and controlling nanofibril orientation in complex flows.
• To create a digital twin for visualizing particle orientation distributions.

Main Methods:

• Integration of biological nanofibril assembly, X-ray diffraction, and computational fluid dynamics.
• Development of a digital twin to simulate and analyze particle orientation.

Main Results:

• The digital twin reveals complete particle orientation in transient flow situations.
• Detailed local alignment and spatial variation of orientation distributions for different length fractions are identified.
• The methodology captures variations along the process and across cross-sections.

Conclusions:

• The developed methodology provides a foundation for analyzing and optimizing the assembly of anisotropic particles.
• It bridges in operandi measurements with in silico studies of particle interactions and liquid crystal transitions.