Advanced Soft Matter Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136, 2628 BL Delft (The Netherlands).
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2014 Apr 14;53(16):4132-6. doi: 10.1002/anie.201310776. Epub 2014 Mar 11.
Catalyst-assisted self-assembly is widespread in nature to achieve spatial control over structure formation. Reported herein is the formation of hydrogel micropatterns on catalytic surfaces. Gelator precursors react on catalytic sites to form building blocks which can self-assemble into nanofibers. The resulting structures preferentially grow where the catalyst is present. Not only is a first level of organization, allowing the construction of hydrogel micropatterns, achieved but a second level of organization is observed among fibers. Indeed, fibers grow with their main axis perpendicular to the substrate. This feature is directly linked to a unique mechanism of fiber formation for a synthetic system. Building blocks are added to fibers in a confined space at the solid-liquid interface.
催化剂辅助的自组装在自然界中被广泛用于实现对结构形成的空间控制。本文报道了在催化表面上形成水凝胶微图案的方法。凝胶前体在催化位点上反应，形成可以自组装成纳米纤维的构建块。所得结构优先在存在催化剂的地方生长。不仅实现了第一级组织，允许构建水凝胶微图案，而且在纤维之间观察到第二级组织。实际上，纤维的主轴线垂直于基底生长。这一特征与合成体系中纤维形成的独特机制直接相关。在固-液界面的受限空间中，将构建块添加到纤维中。
