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Rendos A, Cao W, Chern M, Lauricella M, Succi S, Werner JG, Dennis AM, Brown KA. Electric field induced macroscopic cellular phase of nanoparticles. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:1991-1996. [PMID: 35080230 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm01650d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
A suspension of nanoparticles with very low volume fraction is found to assemble into a macroscopic cellular phase that is composed of particle-rich walls and particle-free voids under the collective influence of AC and DC voltages. Systematic study of this phase transition shows that it was the result of electrophoretic assembly into a two-dimensional configuration followed by spinodal decomposition into particle-rich walls and particle-poor cells mediated principally by electrohydrodynamic flow. This mechanistic understanding reveals two characteristics needed for a cellular phase to form, namely (1) a system that is considered two dimensional and (2) short-range attractive, long-range repulsive interparticle interactions. In addition to determining the mechanism underpinning the formation of the cellular phase, this work presents a method to reversibly assemble microscale continuous structures out of nanoscale particles in a manner that may enable the creation of materials that impact diverse fields including energy storage and filtration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail Rendos
- Division of Materials Science & Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Wenhan Cao
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Margaret Chern
- Division of Materials Science & Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Marco Lauricella
- Istituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via dei Taurini 19, Rome, 00185, Italy
| | - Sauro Succi
- Center for Life Nano-Neuro Science at La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
| | - Jörg G Werner
- Division of Materials Science & Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Allison M Dennis
- Division of Materials Science & Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Keith A Brown
- Division of Materials Science & Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
- Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
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Raveendran J, Wood JA, Docoslis A. Contact-Free Templating of 3-D Colloidal Structures Using Spatially Nonuniform AC Electric Fields. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2016; 32:9619-9632. [PMID: 27541583 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
The formation of ordered and regularly shaped structures of colloidal particles with the aid of spatially nonuniform electric fields is a modern research area of great interest. This work illustrates how alternating current (AC) electrokinetic effects (dielectrophoresis, electroosmosis) can serve as contact-free templates, inside which colloidal microspheres can assemble into a variety of shapes and sizes. We show how three-dimensional colloidal structures of square, circular, and diamond shape of many tens of micrometers in size can be reproducibly formed with a single set of quadrupolar microelectrodes. Numerical simulations performed help to explain the role of AC electroosmosis and AC dielectrophoresis on the shaping of these structures as a function of applied voltage and frequency. We also demonstrate how the templating repertoire is further enhanced with the simultaneous application of a second, individually controlled AC electric field, which enables a variety of asymmetric colloidal structures to be produced using the same set of quadrupolar microelectrodes. As the preservation of shape and size of such electric-field templated structures after medium evaporation still remains a big challenge, here we also report on a novel method that permits the stabilization and isolation of these particle assemblies through medium gelation and subsequent hydrogel removal with a UV/ozone treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Raveendran
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University , Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6
| | | | - Aristides Docoslis
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Queen's University , Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6
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Clusters in sedimentation equilibrium for an experimental hard-sphere-plus-dipolar Brownian colloidal system. Sci Rep 2015; 5:13572. [PMID: 26323363 PMCID: PMC4555105 DOI: 10.1038/srep13572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
In this work, we use structure and dynamics in sedimentation equilibrium, in the presence of gravity, to examine, via confocal microscopy, a Brownian colloidal system in the presence of an external electric field. The zero field equation of state (EOS) is hard sphere without any re-scaling of particle size, and the hydrodynamic corrections to the long-time self-diffusion coefficient are quantitatively consistent with the expected value for hard spheres. Care is taken to ensure that both the dimensionless gravitational energy, which is equivalent to a Peclet number Peg, and dipolar strength Λ are of order unity. In the presence of an external electric field, anisotropic chain-chain clusters form; this cluster formation manifests itself with the appearance of a plateau in the diffusion coefficient when the dimensionless dipolar strength Λ ~ 1. The structure and dynamics of this chain-chain cluster state is examined for a monodisperse system for two particle sizes.
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Crassous JJ, Mihut AM, Wernersson E, Pfleiderer P, Vermant J, Linse P, Schurtenberger P. Field-induced assembly of colloidal ellipsoids into well-defined microtubules. Nat Commun 2014; 5:5516. [PMID: 25409686 PMCID: PMC4263160 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2014] [Accepted: 10/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Current theoretical attempts to understand the reversible formation of stable microtubules and virus shells are generally based on shape-specific building blocks or monomers, where the local curvature of the resulting structure is explicitly built-in via the monomer geometry. Here we demonstrate that even simple ellipsoidal colloids can reversibly self-assemble into regular tubular structures when subjected to an alternating electric field. Supported by model calculations, we discuss the combined effects of anisotropic shape and field-induced dipolar interactions on the reversible formation of self-assembled structures. Our observations show that the formation of tubular structures through self-assembly requires much less geometrical and interaction specificity than previously thought, and advance our current understanding of the minimal requirements for self-assembly into regular virus-like structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérôme J. Crassous
- Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Adriana M. Mihut
- Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Erik Wernersson
- Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Patrick Pfleiderer
- Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
- Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Jan Vermant
- Department of Chemical Engineering, KU Leuven, University of Leuven, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
- Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Per Linse
- Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
| | - Peter Schurtenberger
- Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Lund University, SE-22100 Lund, Sweden
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Almudallal AM, Buldyrev SV, Saika-Voivod I. Phase diagram of a two-dimensional system with anomalous liquid properties. J Chem Phys 2012; 137:034507. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4735093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
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