非对称性Janus粒子的制备与可控组装

古罗马的双面神(Janus)常被用来描述具有两种不同化学结构或性质的不对称粒子, Janus粒子由于自身的特殊性能在药物载体、电子器件和乳液稳定等方面表现出良好的发展势头, 其应用前景日益受到人们的重视. 目前, Janus 粒子作为基本的组装基元受到越来越多的关注, 相关组装方法也被广泛地研究, 包括本体组装、界面组装和外界驱动力调控等, 特别是Janus 粒子的双亲修饰与功能化. 本文综述了现今Janus 粒子制备方法及对其进行修饰组装的最新研究进展, 详细讨论比较了一步合成法、聚合物自组装法和晶种直接生长等方法的特点及差异, 并对一些新型功能Janus粒子的设计及潜在的应用前景进行了展望.     

纳米粒子的界面自组装

近年来,随着纳米技术的发展及Pickering乳液在食品、化妆品、医药等领域中的应用,纳米粒子的界面自组装现象引起了人们的广泛关注。界面能的降低是纳米粒子液液界面自组装的主要驱动力。通过改变纳米粒子的尺寸和表面配体的化学性质,可控制纳米粒子的界面自组装行为。本文综述了不同类型纳米粒子实现界面自组装的研究工作,包括均质纳米粒子、Janus纳米粒子、棒状纳米粒子以及生物纳米粒子。最后,对纳米粒子的界面组装这一领域的可能发展做了展望。     

Janus粒子的制备及功能化应用

Janus粒子是指表面具有两种或两种以上不同化学组成或性质的不对称粒子,目前Janus粒子的制备方法仍在发展中,同时也逐渐形成了Janus粒子在生物医药、催化、材料以及防污等领域功能化应用的研究重点。本文从Janus粒子制备和应用两个方面方法来介绍Janus粒子的研究进展。制备方法主要包括表面选择性修饰法、晶种生长法、微流控法、嵌段共聚物自组装法和电化学沉积法等。应用方面则着重介绍了Janus粒子在生物医药、界面催化、表面活性剂、复合材料、微米马达和防污等方面的功能化应用,并对Janus粒子未来的发展趋势做了展望。     

含Janus粒子组装体的构筑、调控及功能的模拟与理论分析

Janus粒子由于其表面性质与形状特征的不对称性而展现出独特的力学、光学、电学、磁学和表面两亲性能,在构筑复杂组装结构及设计新型功能材料方面有着广阔的应用前景.本文主要从计算机模拟与理论分析的角度,结合相关实验体系,系统地总结了目前对含Janus粒子组装体的体系构筑、结构调控及材料功能等的相关研究进展.从Janus粒子自组装结构的精确构筑与动态响应性、界面结构的熵驱调控、非平衡组装动力学及含Janus粒子组装体功能的模拟与预报等4个方面,详细阐述了Janus粒子的复杂多级组装结构及其背后蕴含的热力学与动力学的机理,并介绍了一系列基于含Janus粒子组装体的聚合物基复合材料独特的功能及其潜在应用.在此基础上,指出合理设计Janus粒子的非对称性质以及巧妙调控组装体内的熵、焓平衡,是控制其多级组装结构,进而开发相应新型功能材料的关键,并对Janus粒子未来的理论和模拟研究趋势进行了展望.     

Janus纳米金稳定的Pickering乳液界面催化氧化性能

Janus纳米粒子的结构设计和简易合成是Pickering乳液界面催化的关键. 本文通过在Pickering乳液保护法中操纵共轭亚油酸的自组装、 自交联性和弱还原性, 合成了Janus型自交联吸附胶束修饰的纳米Fe₃O₄ (SCA-Fe₃O₄), 并在其表面原位还原金后, 合成了Janus型催化剂Au-SCA-Fe₃O₄, 考察其同时作为乳化剂和催化剂在乳液界面催化苯甲醇氧化生成苯甲醛的性能. 结果表明, 该Janus纳米粒子的金修饰量(质量分数)仅为0.66%, 兼具乳化性、 催化性和磁响应性. Au-SCA-Fe₃O₄可制备外观稳定(100 μm)和热稳定(90 ℃)的苯甲醇/水型Pickering乳液, 可显著提高互不相溶反应物与催化剂间的接触面积, 使其催化活性达到均匀纳米催化剂的2倍和非乳液催化时的3倍, 其在界面的不可转动性使苯甲醛的选择性高于99.9%, 避免了苯甲醛被过度氧化成苯甲酸.     

阳离子修饰纳米Pt的合成及其在Nafion膜上的自组装行为研究

以季铵阳离子聚合物为修饰离子、乙醇为还原剂,在水溶液中合成了具有稳定电位的阳离子修饰纳米Pt颗粒,还原过程采用UV-vis光谱监控,粒子形貌采用TEM表征.结果表明,合成体系在45 min左右还原完毕,颗粒粒径约为4.5 nm,呈多晶态结构,粒径分布狭窄,具有良好的分散性.采用Zeta电位测定仪分析了不同pH条件下粒子的电位,选择了合适的组装pH值并运用静电自组装的方法把Pt颗粒成功地组装到Nafion膜表面.同时对该自组装体系的影响因素进行了一些理论分析,并以此对组装过程的动力学性质和组装膜电化学特性进行了解释.     

配体链包覆纳米粒子的表面相分离及自组装的模拟研究

通过耗散粒子动力学方法,模拟了二元配体链包覆的纳米粒子表面的相分离行为,并与现有的模拟和实验体系进行对比.研究结果印证了相分离驱动力是配体链错位所导致的构象熵的结论.进一步以相分离得到的Janus和三嵌段Janus结构纳米粒子作为构筑单元,研究了其在选择性溶剂中的自组装行为.结果表明,Janus粒子易自组装成为双层囊泡结构,而三嵌段Janus粒子则更易形成单层囊泡结构.对于从配体链包覆的纳米粒子出发,设计具有特殊功能的囊泡提供了理论支持.     

高分子修饰金纳米粒子的自组装研究进展

近年来,高分子修饰金纳米粒子的自组装行为逐渐成为新的研究热点.当金纳米粒子修饰上高分子后,在维持其自身光电特性的同时展现出了与高分子类似的自组装行为,从而能够在适当的条件下形成结构明确的零维、一维、二维和三维自组装结构.这些自组装结构的出现不仅促进了金纳米粒子组装的基础研究,并且极大地丰富了金纳米粒子的应用潜力,为金/高分子纳米复合材料的发展开拓了新的方向.本文总结了金/高分子纳米复合粒子形成的不同维度组装体,着重讨论了金纳米粒子自组装构筑单元的设计、组装方法以及组装体的性质,分类讨论了相应的自组装材料在环境和生物医药中的应用,并展望了相关研究在未来发展的机遇与挑战.     

氢键流体中Janus粒子的过量熵

Janus粒子在结构和性质上的特殊性使其在不同溶剂中呈现出丰富的聚集态结构和相态结构,这与其在溶液中的过量熵密切相关.本文以Janus粒子与氢键流体的稀溶液体系为例,利用经典流体的密度泛函理论研究了氢键流体中Janus粒子的过量熵.首先在极稀条件下给出Janus粒子外氢键流体中的局域密度分布,由此得到Janus粒子与氢键流体的二体分布函数,进而计算了不同情况下的过量熵.在此基础上,阐明了Janus粒子与氢键流体间的相互作用、氢键流体的体相密度、氢键强度和氢键官能度等因素对过量熵的影响.本研究旨在揭示这些因素对过量熵的调控机制,在定量水平上明确Janus粒子在溶液中组装的驱动力,从而为深入研究其聚集态结构提供可借鉴的理论线索.     

层层自组装修饰磁性纳米粒子及蛋白质吸附研究

采用层层自组装技术将聚天冬胺酸和聚乙二胺修饰到磁性纳米粒子表面上, 并研究了修饰后的磁性纳米粒子的zeta电势变化和对蛋白质的吸附. 先通过化学共沉淀的方法获得了四氧化三铁磁性纳米粒子, 然后利用层层自组装的方法对纳米粒子进行了修饰. 用TEM表征了纳米粒子的尺寸. 用红外光谱表征了修饰过程中磁性纳米粒子表面组成的变化情况. 研究了修饰过程对磁性纳米粒子的zeta电势的影响. zeta电势的正负和大小与表面连接的分子的带电性质有关. 磁性纳米粒子的等电点接近中性. 聚天冬胺酸修饰的磁性纳米粒子的Zeta电势为负值. 在聚乙二胺溶液的pH＝11时获得的双层修饰的磁性粒子的等电点接近9, 并且等电点随聚乙二胺溶液的pH的减小而减小. 结果也表明在pH＝7.4时具有不同表面电荷的磁性纳米粒子通过静电作用选择性地吸附蛋白质.     

基于粒子辅助水滴模板法制备仿生复眼结构的研究

将微粒“皮克林乳化效应”(Pickering emulsions)和水滴模板法(breath figure method)有机结合,探索通过建立粒子辅助的水滴模板法,实现纳米粒子在蜂窝状多孔膜内壁的自组装复合,构建微纳复合的多级仿生结构.并进一步利用聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)复制转移技术,获得类似于复眼结构的多级微纳复合界面仿生结构.     

Janus particles at liquid-liquid interfaces

Following recent theoretical predictions, we report on the first experiments on the interfacial activity of so-called Janus nanoparticles (i.e., bifacial particles consisting of a gold and an iron oxide moiety). Using pendant drop tensiometry, we show that the amphiphilicity derived from the Janus character of the particles leads to a significantly higher interfacial activity compared to that of the respective homogeneous particles of the same size. The self-assembly of Janus particles at the hexane-water interface results in a significant decrease in the interfacial tension. Furthermore, we demonstrate control over the interfacial activity by tuning the particles' amphiphilicity via ligand-exchange reactions.     

Site-selective chemical etching of silicon using patterned silver catalyst

Si convex arrays and Si hole arrays with ordered periodicities were fabricated by the site-selective chemical etching of a Si substrate using patterned Ag nanoparticles as a catalyst. Ag particles were deposited selectively on the Si substrate by a combination of colloidal crystal templating, hydrophobic treatment and subsequent electroless plating. The obtained Ag patterns were of two different types: network-like honeycomb and isolated-island microarrays. The transfer of ordered patterns fabricated by Ag plating onto the Si substrate could be achieved by the selective chemical etching of a Ag-coated Si area using Ag particles as the etching catalyst. On the basis of this process, it is possible to fabricate negative and positive patterns by changing the arrangement of deposited Ag patterns.     

Crystallization on surfaces of well-defined topography

Single crystals of calcite with regular patterned surfaces comprising close-packed arrays of hemispherical cavities or domes were produced by crystallization on colloidal monolayers or PDMS replicas of these monolayers, respectively. Perfect replication of the substrate topography was achieved for all colloidal particles, irrespective of their size and surface chemistry when the substrate geometry permitted unrestricted ion flow to the growing crystal. This work demonstrates that crystallization within a mould provides a very general route to producing single crystals with curved surfaces and unusual morphologies and that such patterning can be applied from the micro- to the nanoscale.     

Patterning organic semiconductors using "dry" poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomeric stamps for thin film transistors

This communication demonstrates a method of transferring unreacted low molecular weight (LMW) siloxane oligomers from freshly prepared "dry" PDMS stamps for patterning organic semiconductors and conducting polymers into functional devices via selective wetting. The semiconductors were patterned onto the modified surfaces via dip-coating with well-resolved feature sizes as small as 1 mum. Functional transistor arrays exhibited field-effect mobilities as high as 0.07 cm2/Vs. The proposed printing method eliminates the need to ink SAMs for fabricating patterns and results in a simple, fast, and highly reproducible method of patterning organic semiconductors from solution. The method herein also produced a flexible transistor composed of patterned PEDOT source-drain electrodes.     

Honeycomb micropatterning of proteins on polymer films through the inverse microemulsion approach

Here we report the rapid and convenient patterning of proteins on porous polymer film using the inverse microemulsion approach. Following this method, proteins, which were dissolved in water, were transferred into dichloromethane solution of polymers through the formation of inverse microemulsion by mixing the two solutions. The protein-containing microemulsion droplets accumulated automatically into large and stable ones on the surface of organic solution casting on solid substrates, and formed tightly packed microemulsion droplet arrays driven by surface tension. With the evaporation of organic solvent and water, the microemulsion droplet arrays, which act as the template, turn to honeycomb patterned pores bearing proteins in them. The formed protein patterns can be locally applied for the detection of other proteins through specific recognition. The generality and reproducibility for the formation of BSA/PS microporous film and protein patterning by using different polymers and solvents were demonstrated by investigating surfactant addition, polymer and solvent types, and casting volume on the morphology of the microporous films. A preliminary mechanism for the protein patterning is discussed based on the analysis of the experimental results.     

Large-scale controllable patterning growth of aligned organic nanowires through evaporation-induced self-assembly

Organic one-dimensional nanostructures are attractive building blocks for electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic applications. Achieving aligned organic nanowire arrays that can be patterned on a surface with well-controlled spatial arrangement is highly desirable in the fabrication of high-performance organic devices. We demonstrate a facile one-step method for large-scale controllable patterning growth of ordered single-crystal C(60) nanowires through evaporation-induced self-assembly. The patterning geometry of the nanowire arrays can be tuned by the shape of the covering hats of the confined curve-on-flat geometry. The formation of the pattern arrays is driven by a simple solvent evaporation process, which is controlled by the surface tension of the substrate (glass or Si) and geometry of the evaporation surface. By sandwiching a solvent pool between the substrate and a covering hat, the evaporation surface is confined to along the edge of the solvent pool. The geometry of the formed nanowire pattern is well defined by a surface-tension model of the evaporation channel. This simple method is further established as a general approach that is applicable to two other organic nanostructure systems. The I-V characteristics of such a parallel, organic, nanowire-array device was measured. The results demonstrate that the proposed method for direct growth of nanomaterials on a substrate is a feasible approach to device fabrication, especially to the fabrication of the parallel arrays of devices.     

Direct route to well-defined, chemically diverse electrode arrays

The selective placement of molecules of interest at specific locations on surfaces is a keystone for the bridge between interfacial science and technology. One approach to this problem is the use of electrochemistry to direct interfacial reactions that immobilize species from solution onto surfaces. In this study, sets of individually functionalized gold electrodes were formed by the selective formation of monolayers from four different alkyl thiosulfates. Analysis of the arrays using spatially resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed each type of functionality exclusively on the electrode to which it was directed. The wetting behavior of these surfaces was also consistent with homogeneous monolayers placed selectively on each electrode. The flexibility of this method provides the ability to produce a wide variety of chemical patterns at interfaces of interest for a range of technological applications.     

Effect of polar groups of polystyrenes on the self-assembly of breath figure arrays

The breath figure (BF) process has been widely used to prepare patterned porous films. The mechanism remains to be further elucidated, especially how polymer architectures affect the stability of water droplets and the pore structure. Polystyrenes (PS) was functionalized with a series of polar groups both in chain middle and chain end, which was synthesized by using difunctional atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) initiators with the combination of nucleophilic substitution of the end bromine. It is found that PS with polar groups, which help to reduce interfacial tension, tends to form regular patterns at low concentration and to generate multilayered pores. The coalescence resistance measurement was performed to characterize the stabilization of water droplets from polymers by precipitation. The results show opposite trend with the results of the BF process, indicating a minor role played by polymer precipitation on microdroplets stabilization. We reveal that addition of only an oxyethyl group in the chain middle of PS contributes to the formation of ordered patterns. This study helps to shed light on the impact of polymer architectures on the self-assembly behavior in the BF process.     

Proteocubosomes: nanoporous vehicles with tertiary organized fluid interfaces

Proteocubosomes are nanostructured open-nanochannel hierarchical fluid vehicles characterized by a cubic lattice periodicity of the lipid/protein supramolecular assembly (protein-loaded cubosomes). They are obtained here at very high hydration levels by a three-dimensional (3D) self-assembly process, which exploits a protein-directed 3D patterning and fragmentation to create a new, tertiary-level structural order of fluid lipid/water interfaces. Our freeze-fracture electron microscopy study reveals that the proteocubosome structures are built up by patterned assemblies of nanocubosomes, which comprise 3D nanoporous fracture surfaces throughout. Complex cubosomic architectures, involving arrays of nanodroplets (larger than 20 nm) inside the proteocubosome particles, are established at high resolution. The soft-matter hierarchical nanocompartment formations display internal aqueous pores belonging to the D-type lipid cubic lattice nanochannel system that is proven by synchrotron X-ray diffraction. The reported nanostructured fluid may give rise to novel applications in nanofluidic biomimetic devices, porous protein drug delivery vehicles, nanoscale enzymatic bioreactors, and protein-encapsulating fluid nanomaterials.