Twist Grain Research Articles

Modern developments in lasing with liquid crystals

A review of the recent developments in the field of lasing with liquid crystals (LCs) is presented. After an introduction into the principle of lasing the different relevant liquid crystal phases to the field are introduced, namely, the nematic and chiral nematic phase, Blue Phases, twist grain boundary and ferroelectric liquid crystals. The classic examples of liquid crystal lasing are shortly discussed, together with a variety of possibilities for tuning the lasing wavelength, before the modern trends in LC lasing are discussed in detail. These are particularly random lasers, where the effects of nanoparticles, quantum dots and solitons are highlighted, as well as localized surface plasmon resonance. Other modern laser systems that have attracted recent interest, white lasers, whispering gallery mode lasers and those with biological materials, for example, cellulose nanocrystals, are also introduced and the latest developments outlined.

Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Silica Film with a TGBA* Structure.

Twisted grain boundary (TGB) phases exhibit highly frustrated and complex liquid crystal structures, and have attracted enormous interest because of their unique internal structure, textures and properties. However, among the few real concerns related to these interesting structures, applying them to prepare polymer-stabilized colored liquid crystal films has been challenging. Herein, the organic-inorganic hybrid silica (OIHS) films with a TGBA* structure were prepared using two organosilanes and one chiral additive under an acidic condition. The structural color of the films can be adjusted by varying the polycondensation temperature and the concentration of the chiral additive. A structurally colored pattern was prepared by the inject printing, which was suitably applied for decoration and anti-counterfeiting.

Induced blue phase and twist grain boundary phase in binary mixtures of chiral calamitic and achiral hockey stick-shaped liquid crystals

Frustrated phases in chiral liquid crystalline systems, such as the blue phase (BP) and the twist grain boundary (TGB) phase, can create new opportunities in liquid crystal research. These frustrated phases have unique optical properties which can be used for specific applications. A new binary mixture system composed of a chiral rod-like ferroelectric liquid crystal and an achiral hockey stick-shaped compound was designed. This binary system exhibits induced frustration, resulting in the emergence of the BP-III and TGB*A phases in addition to the chiral ferroelectric Smectic-C* phase. We report a comprehensive study on several binary mixtures (xH-22.5= 0.162, 0.25, 0.396, 0.562) designed of a chiral ferroelectric liquid crystal derived from the lactic acid, namely 4-(octyloxy)phenyl 3-methoxy-4-((4-((2-(pentyloxy)­propanoyl)­oxy)benzoyl)oxybenzoate and achiral hockey stick-shaped compound, namely (E)-4-((E-((3-(decyloxy)-2-methylphenyl)imino)methyl)-phenyl 3-(4-(dodecyloxy)phenyl)acrylate. These mixtures induced the blue phase (BP-III, ~2.5–6.2K) and the twist grain boundary Smectic-A*phase (TGB*A  ~1.8–6K). Polarizing optical microscopy, birefringence, and dielectric spectroscopy were employed to investigate the BP-III and  phases, as those techniques provide insights into their structural and dynamic properties. The ferroelectric behaviour of the SmC* mesophase was investigated by electro-optics. The obtained results are discussed in relation to the molecular structures of the used materials.

Preferential fatigue cracking at basal twist grain boundary (BTGB) in bimodal Ti-5Al-4V alloy: Dislocation activities and crack initiation

In recent years, (0001) twist grain boundaries (BTGBs) located in primary α grain clusters were identified as fatigue crack nucleation sites in different Ti alloys. In the present study, crack initiation was investigated in a bimodal Ti-5Al-4V alloy subjected to low-cycle fatigue and dwell-fatigue loadings at room temperature. The low fraction of primary α grains was not associated with a lack of sensitivity to BTGB cracking. Transmission electron microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction were used to characterize BTGBs in the initial microstructure. The fatigue mechanisms were then analyzed with a focus on dislocation activity. αp grains adjacent to cracked BTGBs contained a high dislocation density. It was primarily composed of planar slip bands of <a> dislocations. In addition, <c+a> dislocations were noticed in the vicinity of cracked BTGBs. They supposedly pertain to crack tip plasticity during growth, and no evidence of a role of an incoming slip event in crack nucleation was obtained. Also, basal slip bands extending across adjacent grains were found to emerge from BTGBs. This feature provides an easier path for crack extension when growth along the grain boundary becomes difficult owing to a deviation from the basal plane. Atom probe tomography analyses evidenced V and Fe segregation at a grain boundary with a significant deviation from the BTGB configuration. This suggests a possible contribution of local solute segregation to the high cracking resistance of general αp / αp grain boundaries. This work provides new insights into the mechanisms involved in cracking of BTGB in Ti alloys subjected to cyclic loadings.

Subsurface damage evolution of β-Ga2O3 (010) substrates during lapping and chemical mechanical polishing

For semiconductor single crystal substrates, subsurface damage (SSD) is an important factor for device failure. For β-Ga2O3 with two cleavage planes, the SSD is the key issue that needs to be addressed. In this work, β-Ga2O3 (010) substrates were lapped and polished precisely. The formation and evolution mechanisms of SSD were analyzed by cross-section transmission electron microscopy and wet chemical etching techniques. The linear distribution of scratches was found on the substrates after lapping. After chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), the surface scratches were eliminated. However, the SSD layer may still exist under the surface. Chemical etching was developed to identify the "invisible damage" to the CMP-finished (010) substrate. The SSD including nanocrystalline, tilt boundary, twist boundary, and high-density dislocations in β-Ga2O3 was first reported. Distinctively, there was no slip occurrence in the SSD of the (010) plane different from the (100) and (001) planes. The Schmid factor of multiple slip systems was calculated to analyze the cause of no slip on the subsurface. The formation mechanism of SSD was believed that when the slip system could not be activated, the stress was released through rotation and distortion of the crystal plane. The accumulation of grain boundary dislocations at twist grain boundary junctions provided a driving force for the formation of nanovoids. The relationship of substrate damage evolution and crystal strain with different machining parameters was established by high-resolution X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra. A non-damaging β-Ga2O3 (010) substrate with a surface roughness of less than 0.2 nm was obtained by the optimized CMP process. The research results had guiding significance for damage control of β-Ga2O3 and other brittle crystals in ultra-precision machining.

Calculation of grain boundary diffusion coefficients in γU-Mo using atomistic simulations

The γU-Mo alloy has been selected for the conversion of U.S. High-Performance Research Reactor (HPRR) fuel from highly enriched uranium to low enriched uranium as a part of the effort to reduce nuclear proliferation risks. Although γU-Mo alloys have the advantage of high uranium density and good overall irradiation performance, the irradiation-induced swelling and creep in the metal remain important design parameters since they influence the mechanical and thermal integrity of the fuel. To account for these design criteria, engineering scale models need fundamental properties, such as diffusion coefficients, as input. In this study, the diffusion of related species along grain boundaries in γU-Mo fuel is quantified considering that grain boundaries act as sinks for point defects, nucleation sites for gas bubbles, avenues for Coble creep, etc. The diffusivities of U and Mo in selected grain boundaries of γU-Mo alloys (γU-7Mo, γU-10Mo, and γU-12Mo) are obtained utilizing molecular dynamics simulations for a temperature range of 600 K - 1200 K with an interval of 100 K. The structures analyzed include symmetric tilt, asymmetric tilt, and twist grain boundaries. The grain boundary diffusion coefficients of U and Mo in the examined γU-Mo alloys are on the order of 10−14 to 10−11 m2s−1. It is observed that the U diffusivity in the grain boundary is higher than the Mo diffusivity in all cases and that the increase in Mo content of the alloy correlates to a decrease in the grain boundary diffusion. Xe diffusion along γU-10Mo grain boundaries is also calculated in this work, and the diffusivity of Xe in the γU-10Mo grain boundaries is found to be 8 to 15 orders of magnitude higher than the intrinsic Xe diffusivity in γU-10Mo depending on the temperature. The information gathered in this work can inform fuel swelling and creep models and help understand various other phenomena related to γU-Mo fuel performance.

Crack initiation mechanisms of micro-textured Ti60 alloys with different dwell sensitivities subjected to fatigue and dwell fatigue loading

In this work, Ti60 alloys with different micro-texture intensity were designed to elucidate the effect of micro-texture on fatigue life and dwell sensitivity and the difference in crack initiation mechanism for low-cycle fatigue (LCF) and dwell fatigue (DF). It was found that micro-texture region (MTR) significantly reduced LCF and DF lifetimes and increased dwell sensitivity compared to no-MTR samples. However, micro-texture does not change the characteristics of the crack initiation grains, and the fracture initiation region facet of all samples matches the (0001) basal plane and is related to basal slip. Therefore, the [0001] orientation domains for crack initiation in both fatigue states are discussed, and it is found that LCF tends to nucleate along the basal slip bands or basal twist grain boundaries (BTGBs) of the high SF grains, whereas DF nucleation is independent of the basal SF value, and the mechanism of initiation of hard oriented grain cracking is also included. In situ further demonstrated that hard grains can activate basal slip as well as cracking, and the possibility of soft/hard grain pairs generating dislocation pile-up stresses leading to cracking of hard grains was determined by theoretical calculations, providing experimental support and evidence for the soft/hard grain model. Based on these findings, criteria for the angle (θ) of the c-axis with respect to the loading axis and the basal SF range are proposed to determine the differences between LCF and DF with respect to the mechanisms of hard grain cracking and BTGB crack initiation.

Molecular Dynamics Study of Temperature Dependence of Grain Boundaries (100) in Pure Aluminum with Application of Machine Learning

As is known, grain boundary (GB) energy determines the mobility of GBs and their population in metals. In this work, we study the energy of GBs in the (100) crystallographic plane and in the temperature range from 100 to 700 K. The study is carried out using both the molecular dynamic (MD) method and machine learning approach to approximate the MD data in order to obtain functional dependence in the form of a feed-forward neural network (FCNN). We consider the tilt and twist grain boundaries in the range of misorientation angles from 0 to 90°. Also, we calculate the average and minimum energy over the ensemble of GB states, since there are many stable and metastable structures with different energies even at a fixed grain misorientation. The minimum energies decrease with increasing temperature, which is consistent with the results of other studies. The scatter of GB energies in the temperature range from 100 to 700 K is obtained on the basis of MD simulation data. The obtained energy spread is in reasonable agreement with the data from other works on the values of GB energy in pure aluminum. The predictive ability of the trained FCNN as well as its ability to interpolate between the energy and temperature points from MD data are both demonstrated.

Mesomorphic behaviour and photoluminescence study of novel homologous series of Schiff’s base derived from cholesteryl carbonate and thiadiazole moiety

ABSTRACT The steroidal derivatives are widely known for their ability to display a variety of mesophases, including frustrated phases, depending on the structure of the steroidal skeleton and the substituents attached. In this report, thirteen new homologues Schiff’s base derivatives were synthesised by condensing 4-formyl phenyl cholesteryl carbonate with 5-(4’-n-alkoxy phenyl)-2-amino-1,3,4-thiadiazole. All the synthesised derivatives were characterised using elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. Optical texture studies were carried out using a polarising optical microscope in heating and cooling cycles to examine the liquid crystalline behaviour of the synthesised compounds. The derivatives displayed a variety of mesophases, including chiral nematic (N*), twist grain boundary-A (TGBA), smectic A (SmA) and chiral smectic C (SmC*) phases. The isotropic temperature of all the compounds within the homologous series seems to decline with the increase in carbon numbers on flexible chains. The thermal behaviour of all the synthesised compounds was checked using differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. All the synthesised compounds are UV-active and exhibit photoluminescence in the blue emission band with a remarkable quantum yield. The radical-scavenging activity of the synthesised mesogenic derivatives was also evaluated using the DPPH assay.

The effects of twist angle and loading mode on the deformation behavior of bicrystal copper

The effects of twist angle and loading mode on deformation behavior of bicrystal Cu containing symmetric twist grain boundary are investigated by molecular dynamics. Grain boundary dislocation network changes from square-like to ring-like with increasing twist angle. Tensile strength under loading parallel to grain boundary is higher than that under perpendicular loading to grain boundary for the same model, and the larger twist angle is, the larger difference under two loading modes is. Under perpendicular and parallel loadings, initial plastic yield of bicrystal Cu with low angle is triggered by slipping of grain boundary partial dislocations, which results in almost complete dissociation of grain boundary and formation of pillar-like voids inside grains. However, initial plastic yields of bicrystal Cu with higher angle are triggered by explosive collective slipping of short grain boundary partial dislocation and nucleating of new lattice dislocations on grain boundary, respectively, which result in direct splitting of grain boundary and formation of sphere-like voids, respectively. The calculated increase rates of partial dislocation number increase with increasing twist angle, but the increase amplitude is significantly larger under parallel loading. In later stage, void volume of each model is almost the same, but void surface area is significantly different.

Observation of ferroelectric behaviour in non-symmetrical cholesterol-based bent-shaped dimers.

Non-symmetrical cholesterol-based dimers have emerged as crucial materials in the field of liquid crystal research, owing to their remarkable ability to stabilize various exotic mesophases, including the blue phases (BPIII, BPII, BPI), cholesteric nematic (N*) phase, smectic blue phase (SmBP), twist grain boundary (TGB) phase, smectic A/smectic A* (SmA/SmA*) phase, and smectic C/smectic C* (SmC/SmC*) phase. These mesophases have garnered considerable attention due to their diverse applications in spatial light modulation, chiro-optical devices, optical switching, thermochromic materials, and more. In this study, we present the synthesis and comprehensive characterization of a series of non-symmetrical cholesterol-based bent-shaped dimers (1/12, 1/14, 1/16) in which the cholesterol unit is intricately linked to an aromatic mesogenic core through a flexible spacer. These novel materials exhibit the intriguing ability to stabilize a variety of mesophases, including the N*, TGBA, SmA, and SmC* phases. The chiro-optical properties of the helical SmC* phase have been meticulously investigated through temperature-dependent chiro-optical measurements, shedding light on their potential for advanced optoelectronic applications. Additionally, we have conducted a thorough examination of the physical characteristics of these cholesterol-based dimers, including static permittivity measurements, dielectric spectroscopy, and electro-optical performance analysis. Remarkably, two homologues (1/14, 1/16) exhibit negative dielectric anisotropy, a crucial parameter for liquid crystal devices. Furthermore, our investigation reveals that these materials exhibit ferroelectric behaviour in the SmC* phase, with compounds 1/14 and 1/16 demonstrating substantial spontaneous polarization (PS) values of approximately 132 nC cm-2 and 149 nC cm-2, respectively. These findings underscore the potential of non-symmetrical cholesterol-based dimers as versatile components for the development of innovative electro-optical devices.

Structures and energies of twist grain boundaries in Mg[formula omitted]SiO4 forsterite

In this work, we investigate twist grain boundary (GB) energies and structures in Mg2SiO4 forsterite using atomistic simulations. We first present a new bond orientational order parameter allowing to highlight disordered regions in this low-symmetry crystal for which classical visualization tools are ineffective. Then we examine three GB planes, (010), (120) and (001), corresponding to the most favorable free surfaces of this crystal. We show that twist GB follow the same energy ordering as corresponding free surfaces. In addition, except for some misorientation angles and for the (120) GB plane, GB energies and structures are quite insensitive to microscopic translational degrees of freedom. The dislocation composition of low-angle twist GB can be related to γ-surfaces in the corresponding planes, and are in good agreement with first-principle calculations. It is also shown that the dislocation core structures in low angle twist GB can strongly differ from the ones of intracrystalline dislocations.

&lt;span&gt;Induced twist grain boundary phase in the binary mixtures of cholesteryl caprylate and nonyloxybenzoic acid&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;

&lt;span&gt;Induced twist grain boundary phase in the binary mixtures of cholesteryl caprylate and nonyloxybenzoic acid&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;

Microtexture effects on fatigue and dwell-fatigue lifetimes of Ti-6Al-4V

The influence of microtexture on the fatigue and dwell-fatigue response of Ti-6Al-4V was investigated considering two regions of a part showing different degrees of microtexture. A high degree of microtexture resulted in a significant reduction in fatigue lifetime. No difference in crack initiation mechanism was observed, as main cracks formed along basal twist grain boundaries (BTGB) connected to the specimen surface. However, a key contribution of faster small crack growth in the strongly microtextured region is suggested. A 120 s dwell time resulted in a dwell-fatigue lifetime debit exceeding a factor of 10 in this region while it remained below a factor of 3 in the weakly microtextured region. In the dwell-sensitive region, internal nucleation of the main crack occurred at a BTGB and long range facetted growth was enabled by the adjacent microtextured region with a dominant [0001] orientation. In contrast, surface crack nucleation typical of fatigue failures dominated in the dwell-insensitive region. The limited growth of internal cracks suggests that the lack of path for rapid crack growth has a pivotal effect for the low dwell sensitivity. The competition between fatigue and dwell-fatigue damage highlights the importance of considering both in modeling approaches to obtain accurate lifetime predictions.

Cycloplatinated(II) metallomesogens and their binary-mediated chirality transfer and amplificated deep-red circularly polarized luminescence with ultrahigh dissymmetry factor over 0.13

Incorporating supramolecular chirality and high emission into metallomesogens has great significance in the field of flexible electronic devices because of their emergent capacities for enlarged chiroptical activities and either thermotropic or solution-processability. In this work, an enantiomeric pair of chiral Pt(II) metallomesogens (S)/(R)-Pt1 were prepared through laboratory-synthesized chiral picolinic acid ligands and phenylpyridine derivatives to study their mesophase behaviors, chiroptical properties, and chirality transfer and amplification. The solutions of (S)/(R)-Pt1 emitted green phosphorescence at 508 nm, but the amorphous form displayed orange-red phosphorescence at 616 nm. Upon gentle grinding or heating, the emission color of Pt1 was dramatically changed with a bathochromic shift of 47 and 51 nm, respectively, because of emerged intermolecular π···π and Pt⋯Pt interactions in all aggregation states. Furthermore, the chiroptical properties and LC self-assembly model were proposed by Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and chiroptical spectrum measurements. The enantiotopic (S)/(R)-Pt1 complexes exhibited electronic circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activities in solution with a smaller asymmetry factor (±5 × 10−4) by chiral disturbance. This pair of exclusively enantiomeric complexes exhibited smectic mesophase behavior in the range of 31.4–76.5 °C but induced unsuccessfulness of helical packing in LC states due to weak induction ability. Contrastively, binary-component mediated supramolecular helical formation and amplificated deep-red CPL switch with ultrahigh dissymmetry factor over ±0.13 in helical twist grain boundary phases (TGBA*) mesophase has been realized.

Dimer-parity dependent odd–even effects in photoinduced transitions to cholesteric and twist grain boundary SmC* mesophases: PBG characteristics

We describe the first investigations on the influence of flexible spacer parity of the guest photoactive liquid-crystalline dimer on the photonic bandgap (PBG) features of the cholesteric (Ch) and twist grain boundary smectic C* (TGBC*) phases of the host molecule. Both these phases exhibit PBG structure, with the former having it in one and the latter in three dimensions respectively. The concentration of the photoactive dimer is very small in the host liquid crystal (HLC) system that exhibits isotropic (Iso) → Ch → TGBC* sequence. The photoisomerization experiment brings out the feature that the pitch of the Ch phase blue-shifts, with the magnitude being more for the even dimer system compared to the odd one. This effect is accompanied by a reduction in the width of the photonic bandgap, again the effect is more pronounced for the even parity mixture compared to the odd one. The two-dimensional periodicity of the SmC* helix identified with the grid pattern in the TGBC* phase shows the memory effect upon photoisomerization. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the odd dimer system shows a larger layer spacing than the even dimer one. Upon UV illumination for one of the materials, layer spacing shows an increase. The investigations discussed in this article reveal that, apart from the actinic light, the spacer and parity of the photoactive dimer play a significant role in controlling the PBG properties in all three directions.

Cholesterol based mesogenic Schiff’s base derivatives with carbonate linkage: Synthesis, characterisation and photoluminescence study

ABSTRACT The steroidal derivatives have been found to be extremely good mesogens since their origin. Due to their inherent chirality, they have the potential to induce a wide variety of liquid crystalline phases, including frustrated phases, depending on the structure of the steroidal skeleton and the substituents attached. In this report, thirteen new homologous Schiff’s base derivatives were synthesised by condensing 4-n-alkoxy aniline with 4-formyl phenyl cholesteryl carbonate. All the compounds were characterised using elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. In order to study the liquid crystalline behaviour of the synthesised compounds, optical texture studies were carried out using polarising optical microscope in heating and cooling cycles. The derivatives showed a variety of mesophases, including chiral nematic (N*), twist grain boundary-A (TGBA), smectic A (SmA) and chiral smectic C (SmC*) phases. The thermal behaviour was determined using a differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric analysis. All the synthesised compounds are UV-active and show photoluminescence in the blue emission region with good quantum yield.

Comparative Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analyses of Differences in Trunk Spiral Grain in Pinus yunnanensis.

Having a spiral grain is considered to be one of the most important wood properties influencing wood quality. Here, transcriptome profiles and metabolome data were analyzed in the straight grain and twist grain of Pinus yunnanensis. A total of 6644 differential expression genes were found between the straight type and the twist type. A total of 126 differentially accumulated metabolites were detected. There were 24 common differential pathways identified from the transcriptome and metabolome, and these pathways were mainly annotated in ABC transporters, arginine and proline metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis, linoleic acid metabolism, phenylpropanoid, tryptophan metabolism, etc. A weighted gene coexpression network analysis showed that the lightblue4 module was significantly correlated with 2'-deoxyuridine and that transcription factors (basic leucine zipper (bZIP), homeodomain leucine zipper (HD-ZIP), basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH), p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H), and N-acetylcysteine (NAC)) play important roles in regulating 2'-deoxyuridine, which may be involved in the formation of spiral grains. Meanwhile, the signal transduction of hormones may be related to spiral grain, as previously reported. ARF7 and MKK4_5, as indoleacetic acid (IAA)- and ethylene (ET)-related receptors, may explain the contribution of plant hormones in spiral grain. This study provided useful information on spiral grain in P. yunnanensis by transcriptome and metabolome analyses and could lay the foundation for future molecular breeding.

STUDY OF THE TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF THE SYMMETRICAL GRAIN BOUNDARY ENERGIES ON THE PLANE (110) IN ALUMINUM

In this work the energy of symmetric tilt and twist grain boundaries in the range of grain misorientation angles from 0 to 180◦ and temperatures from 100 to 700 K in pure aluminum is investigated. The bicrystal systems with different grain tilt/twist angles are maintained at constant temperatures of 100, 400, or 700 K by molecular dynamic method and the energy of each grain boundary is calculated. The results show that the minimum grain boundary energy decreases as the temperature increases from 100 to 400 K; but the energy may decrease, remain practically unchanged, or even increase with further heating to 700 K. The average grain boundary energy obtained by averaging the energies of the resulting grain boundary structure variations at constant temperature grows with increasing temperature from 100 to 700 K for random boundaries with initially high energies. In the case of special grain boundaries with small Σ values, the average energy will be practically unchanged. To describe the continuous energy dependence of symmetric tilt and twist boundaries on temperature, an approximation by an forward propagation of artificial neural network is proposed. The neural network is trained and tested on atomistic simulation data and shows high predictive ability on test data and to describe the boundary energy in the temperature range from 100 to 700 K.

Vacancy segregation and intrinsic coordination defects at (1 1 1) twist grain boundaries in diamond

High radiation damage resistance has become increasingly important for applications of functional materials in harsh environments. The high radiation damage resistance diamond cubic carbon is a unique material which is considered for radiation environments. Beyond the intrinsic radiation hardness of crystal, the interaction between point defects and interfaces (e.g., grain boundaries) increases resistance to radiation damage. In effect, grain boundaries act as sinks for point defects and promote their mutual annihilation. Furthermore, interfaces can be exploited to obtain controlled segregation of point defects, thus avoiding the degradation of material properties due to uncontrolled point defect segregation and coalescence.In the present work, we investigate the interaction between vacancies – as a radiation defect in the bulk crystal – and (1 1 1) twist grain boundaries in crystalline diamond using atomistic simulation with analytical bond order potential. Based on previous observations on structure–property relationships characterising the (1 1 1) twist grain boundaries, this work analyses the emergence of periodic segregation patterns, which are rationalised by the underlying interface structure and their periodic intrinsic coordination defect populations. This observation suggests that randomly distributed vacancies in bulk single crystals can form self-organised defect arrays in the grain boundary. The coordination defect content correlates with the interface sink efficiency, providing guidelines for designing interfaces with high sink efficiency.