The dynamic manipulation of colloidal particle shape offers a novel design mechanism for the creation of advanced responsive materials. To this end, we introduce a versatile new strategy for shape control of anisotropic polymeric colloidal particles. The concept utilizes temperature‐sensitive absorption of a suitable solvent from a binary mixture. Specifically, increasing the temperature in the vicinity of the demixing transition of a binary mixture causes more solvent to be absorbed into the polymeric colloidal particle, which, in turn, lowers the glass transition temperature of the polymer inside the particle, with a concomitant decrease in viscosity. The balance between the internal viscosity and surface tension of the particle is thus disrupted, and the anisotropic shape of the particle shifts to become more spherical. Subsequent rapid temperature quenching can halt the process, leaving the particle with an intermediate anisotropy. The resultant shape anisotropy control provides new routes for studies of the phase transitions of anisotropic colloids and enables the fabrication of unique particles for materials applications.
Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study a driven, nonadditive binary mixture of spherical particles confined to move in two dimensions and immersed in an explicit solvent consisting of point particles with purely repulsive interactions. We show that, without a drive, the mixture of spherical particles phase separates and coarsens with kinetics consistent with an Ising-like conserved dynamics. Conversely, when the drive is applied, the coarsening is arrested and the system develops large density fluctuations. We show that the drive creates domains of a characteristic size which decreases with an increasing force. Furthermore, we find that these domains are anisotropic and can be oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the drive direction. Finally, we connect our findings to existing theories of strongly-driven systems, pointing out the importance of introducing the explicit solvent particles to break the Galilean invariance of the system.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 2219289
- PAR ID:
- 10401187
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- New Journal of Physics
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 1367-2630
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Article No. 033006
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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