Shape-Shifting Patchy Particles

Xiaolong Zheng; Mingzhu Liu; Mingxin He; David J Pine; Marcus Weck

doi:10.1002/anie.201701456

Shape-Shifting Patchy Particles

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 May 8;56(20):5507-5511. doi: 10.1002/anie.201701456. Epub 2017 Apr 12.

Authors

Xiaolong Zheng¹, Mingzhu Liu¹, Mingxin He², David J Pine^{3

2}, Marcus Weck¹

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Design Institute, Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA.
² Tandon School of Engineering, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, USA.
³ Department of Physics, Center for Soft Matter Research, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA.

PMID: 28402010
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201701456

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.

Keywords: patchy particles; self-assembly; shape-shifting particles; site-specific functionalization.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.