Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Due to their controlled size, sensitivity to external stimuli, and ease-of-use, microgel colloids are unique building blocks for soft materials made by crosslinking polymers on the micrometer scale. Despite the plethora of work published, many questions about their internal structure, interactions, and phase behavior are still open. The reasons for this lack of understanding are the challenges arising from the small size of the microgel particles, complex pairwise interactions, and their solvent permeability. Here we describe pathways toward a complete understanding of microgel colloids based on recent experimental advances in nanoscale characterization, such as super-resolution microscopy, scattering methods, and modeling.
Source: Nature Communications
Author: Frank Scheffold
Institution: University of Fribourg
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Medicine
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,380
Awards: Scale-dependent active microrheology of soft materials by studying driven motion of microbeads, SuperCol: Rational design of super-selective and responsive colloidal particles for biomedical applications, Soft condensed matter with correlated disorder, NCCR Bio-Inspired Materials: Using Concepts from Nature to Create ‚Smart' Materials (phase II), G713130726
OpenAlex ID: W3083741114