The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Photo Mikael Lund

Mikael Lund

Professor

Photo Mikael Lund

Assembling oppositely charged lock and key responsive colloids: A mesoscale analog of adaptive chemistry

Author

  • Adriana M. Mihut
  • Björn Stenqvist
  • Mikael Lund
  • Peter Schurtenberger
  • Jerome Crassous

Summary, in English

We have seen a considerable effort in colloid sciences to copy Nature’s successful strategies to fabricate complex functional structures through self-assembly. This includes attempts to design colloidal building blocks and their intermolecular interactions, such as creating the colloidal analogs of directional molecular interactions, molecular recognition, host-guest systems, and specific binding. We show that we can use oppositely charged thermoresponsive particles with complementary shapes, such as spherical and bowl-shaped particles, to implement an externally controllable lock-and-key self-assembly mechanism. The use of tunable electrostatic interactions combined with the temperature-dependent size and shape and van der Waals interactions of these building blocks provides an exquisite control over the selectivity and specificity of the interactions and self-assembly process. The dynamic nature of the mechanism allows for reversibly cycling through various structures that range from weakly structured dense liquids to well-defined molecule-shaped clusters with different configurations through variations in temperature and ionic strength. We link this complex and dynamic self-assembly behavior to the relevant molecular interactions, such as screened Coulomb and van der Waals forces and the geometrical complementarity of the two building blocks, and discuss our findings in the context of the concepts of adaptive chemistry recently introduced to molecular systems.

Department/s

  • Physical Chemistry
  • Computational Chemistry
  • NanoLund: Centre for Nanoscience

Publishing year

2017-09-01

Language

English

Pages

1700321-1700321

Publication/Series

Science Advances

Volume

3

Issue

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Topic

  • Physical Chemistry (including Surface- and Colloid Chemistry)
  • Theoretical Chemistry (including Computational Chemistry)

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2375-2548