Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003, USA.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:1688. doi: 10.1038/ncomms2694.
The creation of a new material often starts from the design of its constituent building blocks at a smaller scale. From macromolecules to colloidal architectures, to granular systems, the interactions between basic units of matter can dictate the macroscopic behaviour of the resulting engineered material and even regulate its genesis. Information can be imparted to the building units by altering their physical and chemical properties. In particular, the shape of building blocks has a fundamental role at the colloidal scale, as it can govern the self-organization of particles into hierarchical structures and ultimately into the desired material. Herein we report a simple and general approach to generate an entire zoo of new anisotropic colloids. Our method is based on a controlled deformation of multiphase colloidal particles that can be selectively liquified, polymerized, dissolved and functionalized in bulk. We further demonstrate control over the particle functionalization and coating by realizing patchy and Janus colloids.
新材料的创造通常始于在较小尺度上设计其组成构建块。从大分子到胶体结构，再到颗粒系统，物质基本单元之间的相互作用可以决定所得到的工程材料的宏观行为，甚至可以调节其起源。通过改变构建单元的物理和化学性质，可以向其赋予信息。特别是，在胶体尺度上，构建块的形状起着根本作用，因为它可以控制颗粒自组装成层次结构，最终形成所需的材料。在此，我们报告了一种简单而通用的方法来生成一整个全新的各向异性胶体动物园。我们的方法基于多相胶体颗粒的受控变形，这些颗粒可以在体相选择性地液化、聚合、溶解和功能化。我们通过实现有斑点和各向异性的胶体进一步证明了对颗粒功能化和涂层的控制。
