Capillary assembly of colloidal particles onto topographical substrates has dramatically accelerated the production of precisely structured colloidal arrays and superstructures. Whereby particles of numerous shapes and chemical compositions are driven into cavities by the capillary force generated when a particle suspension is dried within a patterned channel. Herein, we extend this method to assemble highly cross-linked liquid particles, in which we unite exact spatial arrangement of liquid particles with post-assembly polymerization and end-group modification to engineer functional microarrays. Successful assembly of liquid polymer emulsion droplet “particles” into surface patterns is achieved by inducing coalescence and space filling of cavities of any desired geometry by disrupting their electrostatic stabilization via solvent evaporation. Subsequent polymerization results in a solid particle that can be anisotropically functionalized with molecular recognition units such as DNA, and/or harvested from the template and used for further assembly. We envision that this innovation will enable access to polymer particles of unlimited geometries as directed by the template shape. This work will broaden the impact of capillary assembly methods for generating multicomponent arrays and tailored colloidal architectures. The fabrication schemes are robust, scalable, and will certainly be implemented in optical crystals, sensing, biomaterials, and colloidal chemistry in general.<br/>

Templated capillary assembly of liquid colloidal particles

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.