We report strategies for the synthesis of colloidal polymer microparticles templated by surfactant-induced changes in the shapes of soft, deformable polymer capsules. We recently demonstrated that hollow multilayer capsules partially filled with hydrophobic oils can undergo buckling and folding transitions that yield polymer-encapsulated oil droplets with complex anisotropic shapes. Here, we demonstrate that, when coupled with the use of polymerizable oils, this approach can be used to template the synthesis of crosslinked polymer microparticles with unique 6-, 5-, 4-, and 3-fold symmetries. We investigated this approach using reductively degradable polymer shells filled with two types of polymerizable oils: (i) mixtures of conventional vinyl monomers and (ii) thermotropic liquid crystals (LCs) doped with difunctional vinyl crosslinkers. Surfactant-induced buckling, followed by exposure to UV light and reductive degradation to remove the surrounding capsules, led to crosslinked polymer particles with complex shapes dictated or templated by the shapes of the surrounding shells. In the case of LC-filled capsules, this approach led to porous polymer particles with anisotropic shapes and internal structures that were additionally templated by the ordering of the LC. Characterization of the shapes, sizes, and internal morphologies of these particles using SEM, optical and fluorescence microscopy, and polarized light, as well as factors influencing these parameters, will be discussed. Finally, we demonstrate that the permeability of these spherical polymer shells can be exploited, in the absence of surfactant-induced buckling, to control the sizes and shapes of the oil droplets inside them. This approach can be used to design yolk/shell-type structures, including micro- and nanoparticles of varying size and shape contained within spherical polymer shells. When combined, these new approaches provide methods for the synthesis of polymer colloids with unique anisotropic shapes, internal morphologies, and properties that cannot be accessed using conventional methods for the design of polymeric micro- and nanoparticles.<br/>

Templated synthesis of polymer microparticles with complex anisotropic shapes and internal morphologies

255th National Meeting (2018)

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