Nanocapillarity-mediated magnetic assembly of nanoparticles into ultraflexible filaments and reconfigurable networks

Capillary forces at the nanoscale can be harnessed for the magnetically directed assembly of lipid-shell-coated nanoparticles into ultraflexible microfilaments and network structures. The fabrication of multifunctional materials with tunable structure and properties requires programmed binding of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature materials 2015-11, Vol.14 (11), p.1104-1109
Main Authors: Bharti, Bhuvnesh, Fameau, Anne-Laure, Rubinstein, Michael, Velev, Orlin D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/357/537
639/925/357/354
Assembly
Binding
Biomaterials
Capillarity
Condensed Matter Physics
DNA - chemistry
Fabrication
Filaments
letter
Magnetite Nanoparticles - chemistry
Magnetite Nanoparticles - ultrastructure
Materials Science
Mechanics
Models, Chemical
Molecular structure
Multifunctional materials
Nanoparticles
Nanostructure
Nanotechnology
Networks
Optical and Electronic Materials
Physics
Polymers
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Summary:Capillary forces at the nanoscale can be harnessed for the magnetically directed assembly of lipid-shell-coated nanoparticles into ultraflexible microfilaments and network structures. The fabrication of multifunctional materials with tunable structure and properties requires programmed binding of their building blocks 1 , 2 . For example, particles organized in long-ranged structures by external fields 3 , 4 can be bound permanently into stiff chains through electrostatic or van der Waals attraction 4 , 5 , or into flexible chains through soft molecular linkers such as surface-grafted DNA or polymers 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 . Here, we show that capillarity-mediated binding between magnetic nanoparticles coated with a liquid lipid shell can be used for the assembly of ultraflexible microfilaments and network structures. These filaments can be magnetically regenerated on mechanical damage, owing to the fluidity of the capillary bridges between nanoparticles and their reversible binding on contact. Nanocapillary forces offer opportunities for assembling dynamically reconfigurable multifunctional materials that could find applications as micromanipulators, microbots with ultrasoft joints, or magnetically self-repairing gels.
ISSN:1476-1122
1476-4660
DOI:10.1038/nmat4364