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Shape‐Shifting Patchy Particles
Author(s) -
Zheng Xiaolong,
Liu Mingzhu,
He Mingxin,
Pine David J.,
Weck Marcus
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201701456
Subject(s) - zigzag , colloid , materials science , capillary action , suspension (topology) , colloidal particle , regular polygon , buckling , bridging (networking) , nanotechnology , chemical physics , chemical engineering , composite material , geometry , chemistry , computer science , mathematics , pure mathematics , homotopy , engineering , computer network
Abstract A facile method to synthesize shape‐shifting patchy particles on the colloidal scale is described. The design is based on the solvent‐induced shifting of the patch shape between concave and convex features. The initial concave patchy particles were synthesized in a water suspension by a swelling‐induced buckling process. Upon exposure to different solvents, the patches were tuned reversibly to be either concave or convex. These particles can be assembled into chained, branched, zigzag, and cyclic colloidal superstructures in a highly site‐specific manner by surface–liquid capillary bridging. The biphasic nature of the particles also enables site‐selective surface functionalization.