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Buckling and Interfacial Deformation of Fluorescent Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Microgel Capsules

Hagemans, Fabian ; Camerin, Fabrizio LU orcid ; Hazra, Nabanita LU ; Lammertz, Janik ; Dux, Frédéric ; Del Monte, Giovanni ; Laukkanen, Olli-Ville ; Crassous, Jérôme J. ; Zaccarelli, Emanuela and Richtering, Walter (2023) In ACS Nano 17(8). p.7257-7271
Abstract

Hollow microgels are fascinating model systems at the crossover between polymer vesicles, emulsions, and colloids as they deform, interpenetrate, and eventually shrink at higher volume fraction or when subjected to an external stress. Here, we introduce a system consisting of microgels with a micrometer-sized cavity enabling a straightforward characterization in situ using fluorescence microscopy techniques. Similarly to elastic capsules, these systems are found to reversibly buckle above a critical osmotic pressure, conversely to smaller hollow microgels, which were previously reported to deswell at high volume fraction. Simulations performed on monomer-resolved in silico hollow microgels confirm the buckling transition and show that... (More)

Hollow microgels are fascinating model systems at the crossover between polymer vesicles, emulsions, and colloids as they deform, interpenetrate, and eventually shrink at higher volume fraction or when subjected to an external stress. Here, we introduce a system consisting of microgels with a micrometer-sized cavity enabling a straightforward characterization in situ using fluorescence microscopy techniques. Similarly to elastic capsules, these systems are found to reversibly buckle above a critical osmotic pressure, conversely to smaller hollow microgels, which were previously reported to deswell at high volume fraction. Simulations performed on monomer-resolved in silico hollow microgels confirm the buckling transition and show that the presented microgels can be described with a thin shell model theory. When brought to an interface, these microgels, that we define as microgel capsules, strongly deform and we thus propose to utilize them to locally probe interfacial properties within a theoretical framework adapted from the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory. Besides their capability to sense their environment and to address fundamental questions on the elasticity and permeability of microgel systems, microgel capsules can be further envisioned as model systems mimicking anisotropic responsive biological systems such as red blood and epithelial cells thanks to the possibility offered by microgels to be synthesized with custom-designed properties.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
keywords
buckling, capsules, hollow microgels, in silico synthesis, interfaces, JKR theory
in
ACS Nano
volume
17
issue
8
pages
15 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:37053566
  • scopus:85153802816
ISSN
1936-0851
DOI
10.1021/acsnano.2c10164
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2023 American Chemical Society.
id
855f579e-b385-431a-b6b9-195fa54b3193
date added to LUP
2024-02-22 14:06:06
date last changed
2024-04-22 00:05:44
@article{855f579e-b385-431a-b6b9-195fa54b3193,
  abstract     = {{<p>Hollow microgels are fascinating model systems at the crossover between polymer vesicles, emulsions, and colloids as they deform, interpenetrate, and eventually shrink at higher volume fraction or when subjected to an external stress. Here, we introduce a system consisting of microgels with a micrometer-sized cavity enabling a straightforward characterization in situ using fluorescence microscopy techniques. Similarly to elastic capsules, these systems are found to reversibly buckle above a critical osmotic pressure, conversely to smaller hollow microgels, which were previously reported to deswell at high volume fraction. Simulations performed on monomer-resolved in silico hollow microgels confirm the buckling transition and show that the presented microgels can be described with a thin shell model theory. When brought to an interface, these microgels, that we define as microgel capsules, strongly deform and we thus propose to utilize them to locally probe interfacial properties within a theoretical framework adapted from the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) theory. Besides their capability to sense their environment and to address fundamental questions on the elasticity and permeability of microgel systems, microgel capsules can be further envisioned as model systems mimicking anisotropic responsive biological systems such as red blood and epithelial cells thanks to the possibility offered by microgels to be synthesized with custom-designed properties.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hagemans, Fabian and Camerin, Fabrizio and Hazra, Nabanita and Lammertz, Janik and Dux, Frédéric and Del Monte, Giovanni and Laukkanen, Olli-Ville and Crassous, Jérôme J. and Zaccarelli, Emanuela and Richtering, Walter}},
  issn         = {{1936-0851}},
  keywords     = {{buckling; capsules; hollow microgels; in silico synthesis; interfaces; JKR theory}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{7257--7271}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{ACS Nano}},
  title        = {{Buckling and Interfacial Deformation of Fluorescent Poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide) Microgel Capsules}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.2c10164}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acsnano.2c10164}},
  volume       = {{17}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}