title: Directed Assembly of Soft Colloids through Rapid Solvent Exchange.
abstract: We studied the directed assembly of soft nanoparticles through rapid micromixing of polymers in solution with a nonsolvent. Both experiments and computer simulations were performed to elucidate the underlying physics and to investigate the role of various process parameters. In particular, we discovered that no external stabilizing agents or charged end groups are required to keep the colloids separated from each other when water is used as the nonsolvent. Furthermore, the size of the nanoparticles can be reliably tuned through the mixing rate and the ratio between polymer solution and nonsolvent. Our results demonstrate that this mechanism is highly promising for the mass fabrication of uniformly sized colloidal particles, using a wide variety of polymeric feed materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.|Institute of Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz , Staudingerweg 7, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikoubashman
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
authors.forename: Victoria E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Prud'homme
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.|Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
authors.forename: Rodney D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Priestley
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.|Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, Princeton University , Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
authors.forename: Athanassios Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Panagiotopoulos
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids; D003198:Computer Simulation; D007700:Kinetics; D008956:Models, Chemical; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010316:Particle Size; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*; D012996:Solutions; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D011137:Polystyrenes; D012996:Solutions; D014867:Water
keywords: colloids; experiments; flash nanoprecipitation; self-assembly; simulation