The suspension microstructure and rheology of polymer-colloid mixtures is critical to their performance in a wide range of formulated products. However, because colloidal interactions in these systems arise from mixing, there is often little opportunity to dynamically control their properties. We have recently developed nanoemulsions whose polymer-droplet and droplet-droplet interactions can be finely tuned with temperature through molecular self-assembly, enabling their dynamic colloidal assembly into structures ranging from associative transient polymer networks to arrested colloidal gels. In particular, they show potential as a new class of colloids whose microstructure and properties can be tailored using thermal quenching and annealing strategies, similar to what is already done for biphasic metals, ceramics and polymers. In this talk, I will show how the thermoresponsive properties of these nanoemulsions both make them model systems to understand the rheology of colloidal suspensions and gels, as well as provide new routes for creating hierarchically structured materials.

Thermoresponsive nanoemulsions: Quenchable colloids through molecular self-assembly

251st National Meeting (2016)

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