Most organic molecular crystals exhibit brittleness and are prone to fragmentation when subjected to even mild mechanical forces. Here we reported one new top-down strategy using ordinary scissors to cut for the desired and precise shapes like semicircles, triangles, and pentagons with retention of macroscopic integrity. This unconventional yet simple shape editing approach leverages the chiral asymmetry effect and the steric effect, leading to high asymmetry and enhanced energy dissipation capability during the shear force-driven lattice slippage process. These resulting bulk crystals exhibit good elasticity and allow for photo-induced single-crystal-to-single-crystal (SCSC) modulus enhancement through molecular rearrangement for improved symmetry. Within a broader perspective, this study highlights the strategic integration of top-down and bottom-up approaches, rendering the organic molecular crystals with desirable anisotropic properties and enabling their precise and straightforward further processability.

中文翻译：

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机械切割有机单晶薄膜


大多数有机分子晶体表现出脆性，即使受到轻微的机械力也容易碎裂。在这里，我们报道了一种新的自上而下的策略，使用普通剪刀切割出所需的精确形状，如半圆、三角形和五边形，同时保持宏观完整性。这种非常规但简单的形状编辑方法利用了手性不对称效应和空间效应，在剪切力驱动的晶格滑移过程中实现了高度不对称和增强的能量耗散能力。这些得到的块状晶体表现出良好的弹性，并允许通过分子重排增强光诱导的单晶到单晶 （SCSC） 模量，以改善对称性。在更广泛的角度来看，本研究强调了自上而下和自下而上方法的战略整合，使有机分子晶体具有理想的各向异性特性，并使其能够精确和直接地进一步加工。