The interface between two or more immiscible liquids provides an opportunity to structure the liquids into complex shapes through the interfacial assembly and jamming of nanoparticle surfactant films, whereby nanoparticles (including colloidal nanocrystals) dispersed in one of the liquids bind to the end groups of polymeric surfactants concentrated at the interface. When the interface is perturbed, additional nanoparticle-surfactants spontaneously form, lowering the interfacial free energy in the system. As the system evolves in time, so as to minimize the interfacial area between the fluids, the nanoparticle-surfactants jam and the structures of the liquids becomes shape-persistent. We will describe our recent efforts in printing and patterning such structured liquids with functional nanoparticle surfactants to fabricate, in turn, a variety of useful energy devices, including microreactors, all-liquid electronics, magnetics, and electrochemical cells. The potential to couple chemical and energetic processes across the liquid-liquid interface, and mediated by the nanoparticle-surfactant film, is distinct from related fluidic architectures and devices in lithographically patterned solid media, and more reminiscent of biological systems that dynamically reconfigure, adapt, and respond to local physiochemical cues and thereby derive new functional properties.

Exploiting interfacial assemblies of nanoparticle surfactants to design reconfigurable materials and devices

2019 Fall National Meeting

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