Nanoscope 8 multimode scanning force microscope

A droplet of 20 mL of solution of ILQINS, IFQINS, and TFQINS was deposited on freshly cleaved mica, incubated for 2 min, rinsed with Milli‐Q water, and dried by a pressurized air. PF‐QNM AFM was carried out using a Nanoscope VIII Multimode Scanning Force Microscope (Bruker, USA) operating at ambient conditions and covered by an acoustic hood to minimize vibrational noise. The cantilever (Bruker, USA) was calibrated as described in a previous work.^[62] Images were flattened and analyzed using the NanoScope Analysis 8.15 software and FiberApp software.^[63]

Both room temperature (RT) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) were performed using a Tecnai 12 transmission electron microscope; diffraction patterns were imaged using a Tecnai F20 (FEI, Eindhoven, The Netherlands). Images were recorded on a Megaview III CCD camera (RT-TEM), a FEI Eagle 4k × 4k CCD camera (cryo-TEM), or a Gatan US4000 4kx4k CCD camera (diffraction patterns). For RT-TEM, assemblies were negative stained with potassium phosphate (2%, pH 7.2, 10 s). Samples for diffraction were prepared at room temp and cooled down for measuring (−180 °C). Cryogenic samples were prepared in liquid ethane using a Gatan 626 cryoholder (Gatan, Pleasanton, CA, USA). Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experiments were performed on a Nanoscope VIII Multimode Scanning Force Microscope (Bruker) operated in tapping mode in air. Image processing (first order flattening) was performed in the NanoscopeAnalysis 8.15 software, and statistical analysis was performed using the open source software FiberApp^{20 (link)}. More details are provided in Supplementary Methods.