Programmable Anisotropic Microparticles for Self-Assembly Applications

2014 ◽  
Vol 1622 ◽  
pp. 55-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Liu ◽  
C. Wyatt Shields ◽  
Oluwatosin Omofoye ◽  
Gabriel P. Lopez
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Sacrificial Layer ◽  
Nile Red ◽  
Deposition Process ◽  
Particle Orientation ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Electromagnetic Properties ◽  
Patchy Particles ◽  
Metal Evaporation ◽  
New Research

AbstractColloids with anisotropic shape and properties can enable the assembly of advanced materials otherwise not attainable by microfabrication. In this study, we present a convenient method using common microfabrication tools to generate a diverse array of non-spherical microparticles with well-defined shapes, sizes, electromagnetic properties for self-assembly applications. Projection photolithography onto SU-8 photoresist enabled the production of large aspect ratio microparticles such as cubes, cuboids, cylinders, hexagonal prisms, and parallelepipeds. We characterized these particles to confirm their anisotropic shape and size monodispersity. Fluorescent stains (e.g., Nile red) were mixed into the photoresist prepolymer to enhance the visualization of particle orientation. Particles designed for passive self-assembly were prepared by conventional photolithographic techniques. Particles designed for active assembly were then decorated with metallic patches in precise locations along the surface (e.g., top, side or multiple sides) using electron beam metal evaporation. This metal deposition process can enable orientational control of particles during their assembly in directed fields. After fabrication, large particles (e.g., 1,000 µm3) were released from the substrate via gentle sheer forces, whereas small particles (e.g., 10 µm3) were released by the dissolution of a sacrificial layer underneath the SU-8. Suspending the particles in water with surfactant (or other suitable solvents) provided amenable conditions for their assembly in static or dynamic systems. These conventional methods have the potential to catalyze new research in the fabrication and assembly of anisotropic patchy particles with controllable properties for the hierarchical development of self-assembled micromirrors, biosensors, and photonic crystals as examples.

Biomimetic materials: An introduction

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1020-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Sarikaya ◽  
J. T. Staley ◽  
I. A. Aksay
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Structural Control ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Ceramic Composites ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Length Scale ◽  
Spider Webs ◽  
Biomimetic Materials ◽  
Synthetic Materials ◽  
All Ceramic

Biomimetics is an area of research in which the analysis of structures and functions of natural materials provide a source of inspiration for design and processing concepts for novel synthetic materials. Through biomimetics, it may be possible to establish structural control on a continuous length scale, resulting in superior structures able to withstand the requirements placed upon advanced materials. It is well recognized that biological systems efficiently produce complex and hierarchical structures on the molecular, micrometer, and macro scales with unique properties, and with greater structural control than is possible with synthetic materials. The dynamism of these systems allows the collection and transport of constituents; the nucleation, configuration, and growth of new structures by self-assembly; and the repair and replacement of old and damaged components. These materials include all-organic components such as spider webs and insect cuticles (Fig. 1); inorganic-organic composites, such as seashells (Fig. 2) and bones; all-ceramic composites, such as sea urchin teeth, spines, and other skeletal units (Fig. 3); and inorganic ultrafine magnetic and semiconducting particles produced by bacteria and algae, respectively (Fig. 4).

scholarly journals Nanostructure, Self-Assembly, Mechanical Properties, and Antioxidant Activity of a Lupin-Derived Peptide Hydrogel

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Raffaele Pugliese ◽  
Anna Arnoldi ◽  
Carmen Lammi
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Antioxidant Activity ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Antioxidant Activities ◽  
Functional Materials ◽  
Cd Spectroscopy ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
New Research ◽  
Peptide Hydrogel

Naturally occurring food peptides are frequently used in the life sciences due to their beneficial effects through their impact on specific biochemical pathways. Furthermore, they are often leveraged for applications in areas as diverse as bioengineering, medicine, agriculture, and even fashion. However, progress toward understanding their self-assembling properties as functional materials are often hindered by their long aromatic and charged residue-enriched sequences encrypted in the parent protein sequence. In this study, we elucidate the nanostructure and the hierarchical self-assembly propensity of a lupin-derived peptide which belongs to the α-conglutin (11S globulin, legumin-like protein), with a straightforward N-terminal biotinylated oligoglycine tag-based methodology for controlling the nanostructures, biomechanics, and biological features. Extensive characterization was performed via Circular Dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), rheological measurements, and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analyses. By using the biotin tag, we obtained a thixotropic lupin-derived peptide hydrogel (named BT13) with tunable mechanical properties (from 2 to 11 kPa), without impairing its spontaneous formation of β-sheet secondary structures. Lastly, we demonstrated that this hydrogel has antioxidant activity. Altogether, our findings address multiple challenges associated with the development of naturally occurring food peptide-based hydrogels, offering a new tool to both fine tune the mechanical properties and tailor the antioxidant activities, providing new research directions across food chemistry, biochemistry, and bioengineering.

scholarly journals Supramolecular Nanofibers from Collagen-Mimetic Peptides Bearing Various Aromatic Groups at N-Termini via Hierarchical Self-Assembly

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4533
Author(s):  
Tomoyuki Koga ◽  
Shinya Kingetsu ◽  
Nobuyuki Higashi
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Triple Helix ◽  
Wavelength Conversion ◽  
Nile Red ◽  
Tem Analysis ◽  
Mimetic Peptides ◽  
Collagen Mimetic Peptides ◽  
Potential Applications ◽  
Hydrophobic Molecule ◽  
Emission Behavior

Self-assembly of artificial peptides has been widely studied for constructing nanostructured materials, with numerous potential applications in the nanobiotechnology field. Herein, we report the synthesis and hierarchical self-assembly of collagen-mimetic peptides (CMPs) bearing various aromatic groups at the N-termini, including 2-naphthyl, 1-naphtyl, anthracenyl, and pyrenyl groups, into nanofibers. The CMPs (R-(GPO)n: n > 4) formed a triple helix structure in water at 4 °C, as confirmed via CD analyses, and their conformations were more stable with increasing hydrophobicity of the terminal aromatic group and peptide chain length. The resulting pre-organized triple helical CMPs showed diverse self-assembly into highly ordered nanofibers, reflecting their slight differences in hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance and configuration of aromatic templates. TEM analysis demonstrated that 2Np-CMPn (n = 6 and 7) and Py-CMP6 provided well-developed natural collagen-like nanofibers and An-CMPn (n = 5–7) self-assembled into rod-like micelle fibers. On the other hand, 2Np-CMP5 and 1Np-CMP6 were unable to form nanofibers under the same conditions. Furthermore, the Py-CMP6 nanofiber was found to encapsulate a guest hydrophobic molecule, Nile red, and exhibited unique emission behavior based on the specific nanostructure. In addition to the ability of CMPs to bind small molecules, their controlled self-assembly enables their versatile utilization in drug delivery and wavelength-conversion nanomaterials.

scholarly journals Self-Assembly of Bifunctional Patchy Particles with Anisotropic Shape into Polymers Chains: Theory, Simulations, and Experiments

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 1090-1106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano De Michele ◽  
Tommaso Bellini ◽  
Francesco Sciortino
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Patchy Particles

scholarly journals Directed nucleation and growth by balancing local supersaturation and substrate/nucleus lattice mismatch

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (14) ◽  
pp. 3575-3580 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Li ◽  
A. J. Fijneman ◽  
J. A. Kaandorp ◽  
J. Aizenberg ◽  
W. L. Noorduin
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Lattice Mismatch ◽  
Barium Carbonate ◽  
Growth Direction ◽  
Nucleation And Growth ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Carbonate Concentration ◽  
Nucleation Barrier ◽  
Simultaneous Control ◽  
Local Supersaturation

Controlling nucleation and growth is crucial in biological and artificial mineralization and self-assembly processes. The nucleation barrier is determined by the chemistry of the interfaces at which crystallization occurs and local supersaturation. Although chemically tailored substrates and lattice mismatches are routinely used to modify energy landscape at the substrate/nucleus interface and thereby steer heterogeneous nucleation, strategies to combine this with control over local supersaturations have remained virtually unexplored. Here we demonstrate simultaneous control over both parameters to direct the positioning and growth direction of mineralizing compounds on preselected polymorphic substrates. We exploit the polymorphic nature of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to locally manipulate the carbonate concentration and lattice mismatch between the nucleus and substrate, such that barium carbonate (BaCO3) and strontium carbonate (SrCO3) nucleate only on specific CaCO3 polymorphs. Based on this approach we position different materials and shapes on predetermined CaCO3 polymorphs in sequential steps, and guide the growth direction using locally created supersaturations. These results shed light on nature’s remarkable mineralization capabilities and outline fabrication strategies for advanced materials, such as ceramics, photonic structures, and semiconductors.

Self-assembly of kagome lattices, entangled webs and linear fibers with vibrating patchy particles in two dimensions

Soft Matter ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (45) ◽  
pp. 9167-9176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo A. Chapela ◽  
Orlando Guzmán ◽  
José Adrián Martínez-González ◽  
Pedro Díaz-Leyva ◽  
Jacqueline Quintana-H
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Linear Arrays ◽  
Patchy Particles ◽  
Disordered Networks

A vibrating version of patchy particles in two dimensions is introduced to study self-assembly of kagome lattices, disordered networks of looping structures, and linear arrays.

scholarly journals Rotational diffusion affects the dynamical self-assembly pathways of patchy particles

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (50) ◽  
pp. 15308-15313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur C. Newton ◽  
Jan Groenewold ◽  
Willem K. Kegel ◽  
Peter G. Bolhuis
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Rotational Diffusion ◽  
Equilibrium Constants ◽  
Diffusion Constant ◽  
Translational Diffusion ◽  
Einstein Relation ◽  
High Tech ◽  
Patchy Particles

Predicting the self-assembly kinetics of particles with anisotropic interactions, such as colloidal patchy particles or proteins with multiple binding sites, is important for the design of novel high-tech materials, as well as for understanding biological systems, e.g., viruses or regulatory networks. Often stochastic in nature, such self-assembly processes are fundamentally governed by rotational and translational diffusion. Whereas the rotational diffusion constant of particles is usually considered to be coupled to the translational diffusion via the Stokes–Einstein relation, in the past decade it has become clear that they can be independently altered by molecular crowding agents or via external fields. Because virus capsids naturally assemble in crowded environments such as the cell cytoplasm but also in aqueous solution in vitro, it is important to investigate how varying the rotational diffusion with respect to transitional diffusion alters the kinetic pathways of self-assembly. Kinetic trapping in malformed or intermediate structures often impedes a direct simulation approach of a kinetic network by dramatically slowing down the relaxation to the designed ground state. However, using recently developed path-sampling techniques, we can sample and analyze the entire self-assembly kinetic network of simple patchy particle systems. For assembly of a designed cluster of patchy particles we find that changing the rotational diffusion does not change the equilibrium constants, but significantly affects the dynamical pathways, and enhances (suppresses) the overall relaxation process and the yield of the target structure, by avoiding (encountering) frustrated states. Besides insight, this finding provides a design principle for improved control of nanoparticle self-assembly.

Brownian dynamics simulations of one-patch inverse patchy particles

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (42) ◽  
pp. 23447-23458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuella Cerbelaud ◽  
Khaoula Lebdioua ◽  
Công Tâm Tran ◽  
Benoît Crespin ◽  
Anne Aimable ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Brownian Dynamics ◽  
The Self ◽  
Patchy Particles ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Brownian Dynamics Simulations

92 bead colloids are used to study the self-assembly of large surface anistropic particles.

scholarly journals Anisotropic polymer nanoparticles with controlled dimensions from the morphological transformation of isotropic seeds

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zan Hua ◽  
Joseph R. Jones ◽  
Marjolaine Thomas ◽  
Maria C. Arno ◽  
Anton Souslov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Model ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
Polymer Nanoparticles ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Morphological Transformation ◽  
Functional Nanostructures ◽  
Anisotropic Nanoparticles ◽  
Multiple Length Scales

AbstractUnderstanding and controlling self-assembly processes at multiple length scales is vital if we are to design and create advanced materials. In particular, our ability to organise matter on the nanoscale has advanced considerably, but still lags far behind our skill in manipulating individual molecules. New tools allowing controlled nanoscale assembly are sorely needed, as well as the physical understanding of how they work. Here, we report such a method for the production of highly anisotropic nanoparticles with controlled dimensions based on a morphological transformation process (MORPH, for short) driven by the formation of supramolecular bonds. We present a minimal physical model for MORPH that suggests a general mechanism which is potentially applicable to a large number of polymer/nanoparticle systems. We envision MORPH becoming a valuable tool for controlling nanoscale self-assembly, and for the production of functional nanostructures for diverse applications.

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