Oki Osamu, Noguchi Shun-Ichiro, Nakayama Sota, Yamagishi Hiroshi, Kuwabara Junpei, Kanbara Takaki, Yamamoto Yohei
Department of Materials Science, Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Ibaraki, Tsukuba, 305-8573, Japan.
Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and Laboratory of Macro-molecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands.
Small. 2025 Feb;21(5):e2404934. doi: 10.1002/smll.202404934. Epub 2024 Oct 10.
Coacervation, the phase separation of liquid induced by polymeric solutes, sometimes results in the formation of oligomeric clusters of droplets. The morphology of the clusters is non-uniform because the clustering is a consequence of the random collisions of the drifting droplets. Here we report distinctively organized coacervation, yielding colloidal molecules with monodisperse size, morphological symmetry, and compositional heterogeneity. We investigate the coacervation of a mixture of two types of synthetic polymers and find that one of the polymers coacervates first and serves as a core droplet, on which the other polymer coacervates subsequently to form satellite droplets. The satellite droplets arrange themselves symmetrically around the core and solidify without losing the morphology. The number of satellites and their symmetry are modulable depending on the chemical affinity and the diameter of the droplets. This finding highlights the capability of coacervation as a non-templated and non-covalent pathway to form aspherical colloidal materials with structural and functional complexity.
凝聚是由聚合物溶质诱导的液体相分离，有时会导致形成液滴的寡聚簇。簇的形态是不均匀的，因为聚类是漂移液滴随机碰撞的结果。在这里，我们报告了独特组织的凝聚，产生具有单分散尺寸、形态对称性和组成异质性的胶体分子。我们研究了两种合成聚合物混合物的凝聚，发现其中一种聚合物首先凝聚并作为核心液滴，另一种聚合物随后在其上凝聚形成卫星液滴。卫星液滴围绕核心对称排列并固化而不失去形态。卫星的数量及其对称性可根据化学亲和力和液滴直径进行调节。这一发现突出了凝聚作为一种非模板化和非共价途径形成具有结构和功能复杂性的非球形胶体材料的能力。
