Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Aqueous colloidal suspensions, both man-made and natural, are part of our everyday life. The applicability of colloidal suspensions, however, is limited by the range of conditions over which they are stable. Here we report a novel type of highly monodisperse raspberry-like colloids, which are prepared in a single-step synthesis that relies on simultaneous dispersion and emulsion polymerisation. The resulting raspberry colloids behave almost like hard spheres. In aqueous solutions, such prepared raspberries show unexpected stability against aggregation over large variations of added salt concentrations without addition of stabilisers. We present simple Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) calculations performed on raspberry-like and smooth colloids showing that this stability results from our raspberries' unique morphology, which extends our understanding of colloidal stability against salting. Further, the raspberries' stability facilitates the formation of superspheres and thin films in which the raspberry colloids self-assemble into hexagonally close-packed photonic crystals with exquisite reproducibility.
Source: Nature Communications
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,827
Awards: Cellulose for bio-inspired photonic materials, G3269265390, Hybrid Colloidal Systems with Designed Response, G4673316654, G4937468798, G5045220161, G5507171923, Nano-Optics to controlled Nano-Chemistry Programme Grant (NOtCH), G7382645009, G8312917510, G8642597484, Hierarchical Self Assembly of Polymeric Soft Systems, Looking Through Disorder
OpenAlex ID: W2889033673