Issue 47, 2013

Syntheses and applications of concave and convex colloids with precisely controlled shapes

Abstract

This article describes a facile and promising method to prepare uniform, non-spherical colloidal particles with shape and chemical anisotropies. We first synthesize polystyrene (PS) colloids with a concave multi-dimple structure, through a unique combination of two-stage dispersion polymerizations and a programmed feeding of cross-linker during the synthesis. These concave particles, after a seeded polymerization process, can be swelled out to precisely controlled shapes by varying the amounts of the swelling chemicals. A myriad of concave- and convex-shaped colloidal particles, including hemispheres, peanuts and bowls are obtained. In addition, we explore the potential applications of the synthesized anisotropic colloids by looking at the field-driven directional self-assembly, the optical hiding effect and their use as colloidal surfactants.

Graphical abstract: Syntheses and applications of concave and convex colloids with precisely controlled shapes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Aug 2013
Accepted
15 Oct 2013
First published
16 Oct 2013

Soft Matter, 2013,9, 11392-11397

Syntheses and applications of concave and convex colloids with precisely controlled shapes

Z. Cheng, F. Luo, Z. Zhang and Y. Ma, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 11392 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM52279B

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