Supracolloidal Assembly

Joining spherical colloidal particles can result in various hierarchically organized structures that differ in composition, number of constituents, configurations, and spatial dimensions. Mesoscale assemblies include clusters of a few particles (“colloidal molecules”), spherical assemblies of a larger number of particles (“supraballs”), and capsules (“colloidosomes”). Photonic materials can be prepared by crystallization of colloids into highest -density packings. “Colloidal molecules” take a key role in supracolloidal assembly as they could bridge the gap between individual nanoparticles and tailored photonic materials (e.g. with tetrahedral structural motifs) on the macroscale.

Work Packages

Nanoparticle synthesis
Surface functionalization
Elaboration of assembling strategies
Superstructure formation
Morphological studies

Selected Publications

"Assembly of Nanoparticles into "Colloidal Molecules": Toward Complex and yet Defined Colloids with Exciting Perspectives"
Plüisch, C.S.; Wittemann, A. in Advances in Colloid Science, Rahman, M., Asiri, A.M., Eds., InTech, Rijeka, 2016.
Publisher PDF

"Shape-Tailored Polymer Colloids on the Road to Become Structural Motifs for Hierarchically Organized Materials"
Plüisch, C.S.; Wittemann, A. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 2013, 34, 1798.
Publisher

Project Funding

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) within SFB 1214/A10.