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Self‐Assembly Behavior of Oppositely Charged Inverse Bipatchy Microcolloids
Author(s) -
Naderi Mehr Fatemeh,
Grigoriev Dmitry,
Heaton Rebecca,
Baptiste Joshua,
Stace Anthony J.,
Puretskiy Nikolay,
Besley Elena,
Böker Alexander
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.202000442
Subject(s) - electrostatics , microcontact printing , materials science , chemical physics , bent molecular geometry , nanotechnology , self assembly , inverse , polarization (electrochemistry) , chemistry , composite material , geometry , mathematics
A directed attractive interaction between predefined “patchy” sites on the surfaces of anisotropic microcolloids can provide them with the ability to self‐assemble in a controlled manner to build target structures of increased complexity. An important step toward the controlled formation of a desired superstructure is to identify reversible electrostatic interactions between patches which allow them to align with one another. The formation of bipatchy particles with two oppositely charged patches fabricated using sandwich microcontact printing is reported. These particles spontaneously self‐aggregate in solution, where a diversity of short and long chains of bipatchy particles with different shapes, such as branched, bent, and linear, are formed. Calculations show that chain formation is driven by a combination of attractive electrostatic interactions between oppositely charged patches and the charge‐induced polarization of interacting particles.