Abstract
Patchy particles (PPs) are considered as interesting building blocks for the fabrication of novel structures with enhanced complexity and functionality. However, their development is primarily limited by the fact that there is no reliable method to prepare PPs on a large scale. Herein, a one-pot strategy to prepare PPs relying on polymerization-induced phase separation in monomer-embedded polymer nanoparticles is demonstrated. The surface is found to be composed of sticky patches embedded in a hard matrix by adhesion and force–distance measurements performed by atomic force microscopy. The patch sizes could be easily tuned by controlling the monomer conversion or varying the composition between the polymer and the monomer. This study presents the possibility to develop a simple, low-cost and scalable method for preparing large quantities of PPs from homopolymers. It may also pave the way to new PPs for functional materials and devices.
Highlights
The surface is found to be composed of sticky patches embedded in a hard matrix by adhesion and force–distance measurements performed by atomic force microscopy
CHCl3 is a good solvent for both PVF and PDMA and it is necessary to remove it in order to allow phase separation in the droplets
Polymerization-induced phase separation was found to be the reason for the formation of the Patchy particles (PPs)
Summary
Patchy particles (PPs) are colloidal particles with a chemically or physically patterned surface.[1,2,3] Janus particles can be considered as the simplest PPs with only one patch.[4,5,6] The patchy domains may provide speci c and directional interactions with other particles or surfaces and PPs can self- and direct-assemble into novel suprastructures which can nd applications in the delivery of drugs or other chemicals,[7,8,9] electronic devices,[10,11] photonic crystals,[12,13] and sensors.[14,15,16] Currently, the preparation of PPs mainly focuses on templating or chemical patterning,[17,18,19,20,21,22] glancing angle deposition,[23,24,25] particle lithography,[26,27,28,29] capillary uid ow,[30,31,32] and selfassembly of pre-synthesized block copolymers.[9,33,34,35,36,37] These approaches, are difficult to scale up because of demanding synthetic routes or owing to intrinsic limitations related to the preparation process, and hamper the study and development of PPs. ISSN 1759-9954 PAPER Daniel Crespy et al Polymer patchy colloids with sticky patches A one-pot strategy to prepare PPs relying on polymerization-induced phase separation in monomer-embedded polymer nanoparticles is demonstrated.
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