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Self-assembly of polymeric microspheres of complex internal structures

Nature Materials volume 4, pages 93–97 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Self-assembly can easily produce intricate structures that would be difficult to make by conventional fabrication means. Here, self-assembly is used to prepare multicomponent polymeric microspheres of arbitrary internal symmetries. Droplets of liquid prepolymers are printed onto a water-soluble hydrogel, and are allowed to spread and coalesce into composite patches. These patches are then immersed in an isodense liquid, which both compensates the force of gravity and dissolves the gel beneath the polymers. Subsequently, the patches fold into spheres whose internal structures are dictated by the arrangement of the droplets printed onto the surface. The spheres can be solidified either thermally or by ultraviolet radiation. We present a theoretical analysis of droplet spreading, coalescence and folding. Conditions for the stability of the folded microspheres are derived from linear stability analysis. The composite microbeads that we describe are likely to find uses in optics, colloidal self-assembly and controlled-delivery applications.

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Figure 1: Spreading and folding of two-component spheres.
Figure 2: Schematic illustration of droplet spreading, folding and break-up.
Figure 3: Microspheres with national-flag topologies.
Figure 4: Multicomponent core-and-shell and non-spherical particles.

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Acknowledgements

B.G. gratefully acknowledges financial support from Northwestern University start-up funds and from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program. M.F. was supported by the NATO Scientific Fellowship. A.B. acknowledges financial assistance from the ProChimia Poland Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, 60208, Illinois, USA

    Marcin Fialkowski, Agnieszka Bitner & Bartosz A. Grzybowski

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  1. Marcin Fialkowski
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  3. Bartosz A. Grzybowski
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Correspondence to Bartosz A. Grzybowski.

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Fialkowski, M., Bitner, A. & Grzybowski, B. Self-assembly of polymeric microspheres of complex internal structures. Nature Mater 4, 93–97 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1267

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