CM-AMO SEMINAR | Engineering Shape: the Novel Geometries of Colloidal Self-Assembly

Shape and chemical anisotropy play fundamental roles at the colloidal scale, as they can govern the autonomous organization of particles into precise hierarchical structures and ultimately into a desired new material. In this talk, I will present an emulsion-based methodology to design and mass-produce building blocks featuring anisotropic shapes and interactions. The method is based on chemically reactive emulsion droplets that can be polymerized, reshaped and functionalized in bulk. I will further highlight how we use these building blocks to develop heuristic rules to create self-assembling colloidal systems.