Reconfigurable Printed Liquids

Joe Forth; Xubo Liu; Jaffar Hasnain; Anju Toor; Karol Miszta; Shaowei Shi; Phillip L Geissler; Todd Emrick; Brett A Helms; Thomas P Russell

doi:10.1002/adma.201707603

Reconfigurable Printed Liquids

Adv Mater. 2018 Apr;30(16):e1707603. doi: 10.1002/adma.201707603. Epub 2018 Mar 24.

Authors

Joe Forth¹, Xubo Liu², Jaffar Hasnain^{1

3}, Anju Toor^{1

4}, Karol Miszta⁵, Shaowei Shi², Phillip L Geissler^{3

6}, Todd Emrick⁷, Brett A Helms^{1

5}, Thomas P Russell^{1

2

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
² Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁵ The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁶ Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁷ Polymer Science and Engineering Department, Conte Center for Polymer Research, University of Massachusetts, 120 Governors Drive, Amherst, MA, 01003, USA.
⁸ WPI - Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.

PMID: 29573293
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201707603

Abstract

Liquids lack the spatial order required for advanced functionality. Interfacial assemblies of colloids, however, can be used to shape liquids into complex, 3D objects, simultaneously forming 2D layers with novel magnetic, plasmonic, or structural properties. Fully exploiting all-liquid systems that are structured by their interfaces would create a new class of biomimetic, reconfigurable, and responsive materials. Here, printed constructs of water in oil are presented. Both form and function are given to the system by the assembly and jamming of nanoparticle surfactants, formed from the interfacial interaction of nanoparticles and amphiphilic polymers that bear complementary functional groups. These yield dissipative constructs that exhibit a compartmentalized response to chemical cues. Potential applications include biphasic reaction vessels, liquid electronics, novel media for the encapsulation of cells and active matter, and dynamic constructs that both alter, and are altered by, their external environment.

Keywords: 3D printing; interfaces; liquids; nanoparticles.