Liesegang rings engineered from charged nanoparticles.
Functionalized nanoparticles (NPs) serve as building blocks of self-organizing chemical patterns comprising periodic zones of nanoparticle precipitation. In contrast to ions, which underlie most pattern-forming chemical systems and whose properties cannot be readily modified, NPs allow for flexible adjustment of particle charges and/or material properties. In particular, changes in the particle charges control the precipitation behavior and ultimately the morphologies of the emerging patterns. The phenomenon of NP-based periodic precipitation is explained by reaction-diffusion modeling and can be used for the fractionation of NPs of different sizes.
Lagzi
István
I
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3113, USA.
Kowalczyk
Bartlomiej
B
Grzybowski
Bartosz A
BA
D004058:Diffusion; D004738:Engineering; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D012995:Solubility