Self-assembly of polymeric microspheres of complex internal structures
Source abstract
Abstract
Self-assembly can easily produce intricate structures that would be difficult to make by conventional fabrication means. Here, self-assembly is used to prepare multicomponent polymeric microspheres of arbitrary internal symmetries. Droplets of liquid prepolymers are printed onto a water-soluble hydrogel, and are allowed to spread and coalesce into composite patches. These patches are then immersed in an isodense liquid, which both compensates the force of gravity and dissolves the gel beneath the polymers. Subsequently, the patches fold into spheres whose internal structures are dictated by the arrangement of the droplets printed onto the surface. The spheres can be solidified either thermally or by ultraviolet radiation. We present a theoretical analysis of droplet spreading, coalescence and folding. Conditions for the stability of the folded microspheres are derived from linear stability analysis. The composite microbeads that we describe are likely to find uses in optics, colloidal self-assembly and controlled-delivery applications.
Source: openaire · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced Materials and Mechanics · Pickering emulsions and particle stabilization · Micro and Nano Robotics
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (27)
Show source-provided references
1. Yu, Z. R. & Bradley, M. Solid supports for combinatorial chemistry. Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 6, 347–352 (2002).10.1016/S1367-5931(02)00327-7 ↗
2. Jeong, B., Bae, Y. H., Lee, D. S. & Kim, S. W. Biodegradable block copolymers as injectable drug-delivery systems. Nature 388, 860–862 (1997).10.1038/42218 ↗
3. Park, S. H., Gates, B. & Xia, Y. Adv. Mater. 11, 462–466 (1999).10.1002/(SICI)1521-4095(199904)11:6<462::AID-ADMA462>3.0.CO;2-U ↗
4. Terray, A., Oakey, J. & Marr, D. W. M. Microfluidic control using colloidal devices. Science 296, 1841–1844 (2002).10.1126/science.1072133 ↗
5. Bangs, L. B. New developments in particle-based immunoassays: Introduction. Pure Appl. Chem. 68, 1873–1879 (1996).10.1351/pac199668101873 ↗
6. Russel, W. B., Saville, D. A. & Schwalter, W. R. Colloidal Dispersions (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1989).10.1017/CBO9780511608810 ↗
7. Hunter, R. J. Introduction to Modern Colloidal Science (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1993)
8. Peng, Q., Dong, Y. J. & Li, Y. D. ZnSe semiconductor hollow microspheres. Angew. Chem. Int. Edn 42, 3027–3030 (2003).10.1002/anie.200250695 ↗
9. Fowler, C. E., Khushalani, D. & Mann, S. Interfacial synthesis of hollow microspheres of mesostructured silica. Chem. Commun. 19, 2028–2029 (2001).10.1039/b104879c ↗
10. Yin, J. L. et al. Preparation of polystyrene/zirconia core-shell microspheres and zirconia hollow shells. Inorg. Chem. Commun. 6, 942–945 (2003).10.1016/S1387-7003(03)00156-4 ↗
11. Xiao, X. C., Chu, L. Y., Chen, W. M., Wang, S. & Li, Y. Positively thermo-sensitive monodisperse core-shell microspheres. Adv. Funct. Mater. 13, 847–852 (2003).10.1002/adfm.200304513 ↗
12. Lu, Y., Yin, Y., Li, Z.-Y. & Xia, Y. Colloidal crystals made of polystyrene spheroids: fabrication and structural/optical characterization Langmuir 18, 7722–7727 (2002).10.1021/la025946w ↗
13. Lean, R. C. Physics and performance optimization of electronic paper. J. Imaging Sci. Tech. 46, 562–574 (2002).10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2002.46.6.art00012 ↗
14. Hays, D. A. Paper documents via the electrostatic control of particles. J. Electrostatics 51, 57–63 (2001).10.1016/S0304-3886(01)00096-1 ↗
15. Wang, J., Liu, G. & Rivas, G. Encoded beads for electrochemical identification. Anal. Chem. 75, 4667–4671 (2003).10.1021/ac034411k ↗
16. Fujimoto, K., Nakahama, K., Shidara, M. & Kawaguchi, H. Preparation of unsymmetrical microspheres at the interfaces. Langmuir 15, 4630–4635 (1999).10.1021/la990023v ↗
17. Hugonnot, E., Carles, A., Delville, M. H., Panizza, P. & Delville, J. P. 'Smart' surface dissymmetrization of microparticles driven by laser photochemical deposition. Langmuir 19, 226–229 (2003).10.1021/la0261085 ↗
18. Takei, H. & Shimizu, N. Gradient sensitive microscopic probes prepared by gold evaporation and chemisorption on latex spheres. Langmuir 13, 1865–1868 (1997).10.1021/la9621067 ↗
19. Nakahama, K., Kawaguchi, H. & Fujimoto, K. A novel preparation of nonsymmetrical microspheres using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. Langmuir 16, 7882–7886 (2000).10.1021/la000684o ↗
20. Whitesides, G. M. & Grzybowski, B. A. Self-assembly at all scales. Science 295, 2418–2421 (2002).10.1126/science.1070821 ↗
21. Kim, E. & Whitesides, G. M. Use of minimal free energy and self-assembly to form shapes. Chem. Mater. 7, 1257–1264 (1995).10.1021/cm00054a028 ↗
22. Aubouy, M., Manghi, M. & Raphaël, E. Interfacial properties of polymeric liquids. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4858–4861 (2000).10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4858 ↗
23. Dee G. T. & Sauer B. B. The surface tension of polymer blends: theory and experiment. Macromolecules 26, 2771–2778 (1992).10.1021/ma00063a021 ↗
24. Karim, A. et al. Phase-separation-induced surface patterns in thin polymer blend films. Macromolecules 31, 857–862 (1998).10.1021/ma970687g ↗
25. de Ruijter, M. J. & Beysens, D. Droplet spreading: partial wetting regime revisited. Langmuir 15, 2209–2216 (1998).10.1021/la971301y ↗
26. Rayleigh, J. W. S. On the instability of jets. Proc. London Math. Soc. X, 4–13 (1879).
27. Barbosa, J. & Manfredo, C. Stability of hypersurfaces with constant mean curvature. Math. Z. 185, 339–353 (1984).10.1007/BF01215045 ↗