Shirel Davidyan

Nov 4, 2024 | link.aps.org | Advanced Materials |Daniel A. Matoz-Fernandez |Alexander V. Butenko |Shirel Davidyan

The closed topology of spherical crystals renders the presence of topological defects inevitable. These defects can organize in a plethora of different structures, such as “clouds” or grain boundary “scars”, challenging for theoretical modeling and experimental visualization. Visualizing the defects by fluorescent dye adsorption, we reveal ion concentration control of a clouds-to-scars transition, which we attribute to commonly neglected defects' core energy.