Pressure-controlled formation of crystalline, Janus, and core-shell supraparticles

Binary mixtures of nanoparticles self-assemble in the confinement of evaporating oil droplets and form regular supraparticles. We demonstrate that moderate pressure differences on the order of 100 kPa change the particles' self-assembly behavior. Crystalline superlattices, Janus particles, and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanoscale 2016-07, Vol.8 (27), p.13377-13384
Main Authors: Kister, Thomas, Mravlak, Marko, Schilling, Tanja, Kraus, Tobias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Core-shell particles
Crystal structure
Droplets
Formations
Nanoparticles
Nanostructure
Self assembly
Simulation
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Summary:Binary mixtures of nanoparticles self-assemble in the confinement of evaporating oil droplets and form regular supraparticles. We demonstrate that moderate pressure differences on the order of 100 kPa change the particles' self-assembly behavior. Crystalline superlattices, Janus particles, and core-shell particle arrangements form in the same dispersions when changing the working pressure or the surfactant that sets the Laplace pressure inside the droplets. Molecular dynamics simulations confirm that pressure-dependent interparticle potentials affect the self-assembly route of the confined particles. Optical spectrometry, small-angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy are used to compare experiments and simulations and confirm that the onset of self-assembly depends on particle size and pressure. The overall formation mechanism reminds of the demixing of binary alloys with different phase diagrams. Pressure dependent self-assembly of bimodal distributed nanoparticles that are confined inside emulsion droplets into crystalline, Janus or core-shell supraparticles.
ISSN:2040-3364
2040-3372
DOI:10.1039/c6nr01940d