Our group has reported the self-organization of hydrogel microspheres (microgels), which are water-swellable colloidal microspheres, during evaporation of dispersion droplets [1,2]. So far, we have reported the formation mechanism of two-dimensional ordered structures of the microgels at the air/water interface. However, it is still unclear the effect of the shape of the microgels on their self organization. In this study, we have synthesized the ellipsoidal microgels and investigated their self-organization behavior at the air/water interface. At first, the ellipsoidal microgels were synthesized via two step polymerization, whereby a hydrogel shell was formed onto the preformed rigid polystyrene particles. The shape anisotropy of the microgels was evaluated by electron microscopy and high speed atomic force microscopy as well as by light scattering measurements. Different from rigid polystyrene particles, the assembled structures of the ellipsoidal microgels at the air/water interface were maintained during the evaporation of water. This result indicates that the interpenetration of the hydrogel shell layer played a crucial role as a physically cross-linking of the assemblies [3]. Partially reprinted with permission from ref. [3].

Ellipsoidal microgels that form one-dimensional assemblies during the evaporation of dispersion droplets

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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