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Jung SH, Meyer F, Hörnig S, Bund M, Häßel B, Guerzoni LPB, De Laporte L, Ben Messaoud G, Centeno SP, Pich A. On-Chip Fabrication of Colloidal Suprastructures by Assembly and Supramolecular Interlinking of Microgels. Small 2024; 20:e2303444. [PMID: 37705132 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202303444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
In this report, a versatile method is demonstrated to create colloidal suprastructures by assembly and supramolecular interlinking of microgels using droplet-based microfluidics. The behavior of the microgels is systematically investigated to evaluate the influence of their concentration on their distribution between the continuous, the droplet phase, and the interface. At low concentrations, microgels are mainly localized at the water-oil interface whereas an excess of microgels results, following the complete coverage of the water-oil interface, in their distribution in the continuous phase. To stabilize the colloidal suprastructure, on-chip gelation is introduced by adding natural polyphenol tannic acid (TA) in the water phase. TA forms interparticle linking between the poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) (PVCL) microgels by supramolecular interactions. The combination of supramolecular interlinking with the variation of the microgel concentration in microfluidic droplets enables on-chip fabrication of defined colloidal suprastructures with morphologies ranging from colloidosomes to colloidal supraballs. The obtained supracolloidal structures exhibit a pH-responsive behavior with a disintegration at alkaline conditions within a scale of seconds. The destabilization process results from the deprotonation of phenolic groups and destruction of hydrogen bonds with PVCL chains at higher pH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Se-Hyeong Jung
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Fabian Meyer
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Sven Hörnig
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Michelle Bund
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Bernhard Häßel
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- Advanced Materials for Biomedicine, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Laura De Laporte
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- Advanced Materials for Biomedicine, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- Institute for Applied Medical Engineering, University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ghazi Ben Messaoud
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Silvia P Centeno
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
| | - Andrij Pich
- Functional and Interactive Polymers, Institute of Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Worringerweg 2, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- DWI-Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials e.V., Forckenbeckstr. 50, 52074, Aachen, Germany
- Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM), Maastricht University, Brightlands Chemelot Campus, Urmonderbaan 22, RD Geleen, 6167, The Netherlands
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