Preparation of colloidal molecules with temperature-tunable interactions from oppositely charged microgel spheres
Månsson, Linda K. LU ; De Wild, Tym ; Peng, Feifei LU ; Holm, Stefan H. LU ; Tegenfeldt, Jonas O. LU
and Schurtenberger, Peter
LU
(2019)
In Soft Matter
15(42).
p.8512-8524
- Abstract
The self-assembly of small colloidal clusters, so-called colloidal molecules, into crystalline materials has proven extremely challenging, the outcome often being glassy, amorphous states where positions and orientations are locked. In this paper, a new type of colloidal molecule is therefore prepared, assembled from poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-based microgels that due to their well documented softness and temperature-response allow for greater defect tolerance compared to hard spheres and for convenient in situ tuning of size, volume fraction and inter-particle interactions with temperature. The microgels (B) are assembled by electrostatic adsorption onto oppositely charged, smaller-sized microgels (A), where the relative size... (More)
The self-assembly of small colloidal clusters, so-called colloidal molecules, into crystalline materials has proven extremely challenging, the outcome often being glassy, amorphous states where positions and orientations are locked. In this paper, a new type of colloidal molecule is therefore prepared, assembled from poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-based microgels that due to their well documented softness and temperature-response allow for greater defect tolerance compared to hard spheres and for convenient in situ tuning of size, volume fraction and inter-particle interactions with temperature. The microgels (B) are assembled by electrostatic adsorption onto oppositely charged, smaller-sized microgels (A), where the relative size of the two determines the valency (n) of the resulting core-satellite ABn-type colloidal molecules. Following assembly, a microfluidic deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) device is used to effectively isolate AB4-type colloidal molecules of tetrahedral geometry that possess a repulsive-to-attractive transition on crossing the microgels' volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). These soft, temperature-responsive colloidal molecules constitute highly promising building blocks for the preparation of new materials with emergent properties, and their optical wavelength-size makes them especially interesting for optical applications.
(Less)
- author
- Månsson, Linda K.
LU
; De Wild, Tym
; Peng, Feifei
LU
; Holm, Stefan H.
LU
; Tegenfeldt, Jonas O.
LU
and Schurtenberger, Peter
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2019-11
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Soft Matter
- volume
- 15
- issue
- 42
- pages
- 13 pages
- publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:31633148
- scopus:85074305054
- ISSN
- 1744-683X
- DOI
- 10.1039/c9sm01779h
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ab70e154-edc4-4e9b-aed3-c911395a40fc
- date added to LUP
- 2019-11-15 13:00:31
- date last changed
- 2024-10-17 18:34:10
@article{ab70e154-edc4-4e9b-aed3-c911395a40fc,
abstract = {{<p>The self-assembly of small colloidal clusters, so-called colloidal molecules, into crystalline materials has proven extremely challenging, the outcome often being glassy, amorphous states where positions and orientations are locked. In this paper, a new type of colloidal molecule is therefore prepared, assembled from poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM)-based microgels that due to their well documented softness and temperature-response allow for greater defect tolerance compared to hard spheres and for convenient in situ tuning of size, volume fraction and inter-particle interactions with temperature. The microgels (B) are assembled by electrostatic adsorption onto oppositely charged, smaller-sized microgels (A), where the relative size of the two determines the valency (n) of the resulting core-satellite AB<sub>n</sub>-type colloidal molecules. Following assembly, a microfluidic deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) device is used to effectively isolate AB<sub>4</sub>-type colloidal molecules of tetrahedral geometry that possess a repulsive-to-attractive transition on crossing the microgels' volume phase transition temperature (VPTT). These soft, temperature-responsive colloidal molecules constitute highly promising building blocks for the preparation of new materials with emergent properties, and their optical wavelength-size makes them especially interesting for optical applications.</p>}},
author = {{Månsson, Linda K. and De Wild, Tym and Peng, Feifei and Holm, Stefan H. and Tegenfeldt, Jonas O. and Schurtenberger, Peter}},
issn = {{1744-683X}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{42}},
pages = {{8512--8524}},
publisher = {{Royal Society of Chemistry}},
series = {{Soft Matter}},
title = {{Preparation of colloidal molecules with temperature-tunable interactions from oppositely charged microgel spheres}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9sm01779h}},
doi = {{10.1039/c9sm01779h}},
volume = {{15}},
year = {{2019}},
}