Self-assembly of polymeric microspheres of complex internal structures
Self-assembly of polymeric microspheres of complex internal structures
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DOI：
10.1038/nmat1267
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发表时间：
2005-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
41.2
通讯作者：
Grzybowski, BA
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fialkowski, M;Bitner, A;Grzybowski, BA
自组装可以很容易地制造出复杂的结构，这些结构很难用传统的制造方法制造出来。在这里，自组装被用来制备任意内部对称性的多组分聚合物微球。液体预聚体的液滴被打印在水溶性水凝胶上，并被允许扩散和结合成复合补丁。然后将这些贴片浸入等密度液体中，这种液体既能补偿重力，又能溶解聚合物下面的凝胶。随后，补丁折叠成球体，其内部结构由打印在表面上的液滴的排列决定。这些球体可以通过热或紫外线辐射固化。我们对液滴的扩散、合并和折叠进行了理论分析。通过线性稳定性分析，得出了折叠微球的稳定性条件。我们所描述的复合微珠很可能在光学、胶体自组装和控制输送应用中找到用途。
Self-assembly can easily produce intricate structures that would be difficult to make by conventional fabrication means. Here, self-assembly is used to prepare multicomponent polymeric microspheres of arbitrary internal symmetries. Droplets of liquid prepolymers are printed onto a water-soluble hydrogel, and are allowed to spread and coalesce into composite patches. These patches are then immersed in an isodense liquid, which both compensates the force of gravity and dissolves the gel beneath the polymers. Subsequently, the patches fold into spheres whose internal structures are dictated by the arrangement of the droplets printed onto the surface. The spheres can be solidified either thermally or by ultraviolet radiation. We present a theoretical analysis of droplet spreading, coalescence and folding. Conditions for the stability of the folded microspheres are derived from linear stability analysis. The composite microbeads that we describe are likely to find uses in optics, colloidal self-assembly and controlled-delivery applications.