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Many natural and synthetic quasi-one-dimensional materials are of helical or twisting shape and understanding the physical mechanisms underlying the asymmetric shape is of both theoretical and technological significances. In this letter, we pointed out that anisotropic surface stresses present as a possible reason for the formation of some micro-/nanohelices. Using Gurtin’s theory of surface elasticity, we quantitatively investigated the twisting deformation of nanowires due to anisotropic surface stresses. The present model can also elucidate the formation of some other helical materials at micro- and nanoscales, e.g., twisting lamellae in polymer spherulites, spiraled bacteria, and flagella.
Wang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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