Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Harvard

Colloidosomes: Self-Assembled Permeable Solid Shells

A new approach in exploiting self-assembly to create novel structures with building blocks of larger length scale was created in the work of Weitz and his collaborators, who created structures they call colloidosomes. These structures are made by adsorbing colloidal particles at the interface of an emulsion droplet, gently sintering the particles to stabilize the structure, and then transferring the larger droplet into a new continuous-phase of fluid which is the same as the inner fluid, thereby resulting in a solid shell with potential utility for encapsulation. An electron micrograph of a colloidosome is shown in the figure. In addition, by looking with higher magnification, the sintered layers between particles are clearly visible, as well as the remaining pores; the size of these pores can be simply controlled by the heating rate, the ripening time and the size of the colloidal particles, providing a simple means of assembling new structures that may prove useful for encapsulation.

MRSEC Research Year:

2012

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2012
	Tough gel stretches to 21 times its length, recoils, and heals itself Zhigang Suo, Joost J. Vlassak, David J. Mooney
	International Ambassador, Career Development of Dr. Andy Utada
	Soft-Matter and Innovation Workshop
	Microtubules in Metaphase Spindles, Organization Revealed by Laser Nano-cutting Daniel J. Needleman and Eric Mazur
	Active Soft Materials, Sensing Deformation and Contact Pressure R.J. Wood
	Active Soft Materials, Sensing Deformation and Contact Pressure G.M. Whitesides
	Fluctuating Thin Elastic Shells, Thermal Fluctuations Modify Elastic Properties David R. Nelson and David A. Weitz
	Particles at Liquid Interfaces, Energy Barrier to Particle Surface Adsorption Vinothan N. Manoharan and Michael P. Brenner
	Fluid Drops Impacting Solid Surfaces, Drops 'Skate' on a Thin Layer of Air Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, David A. Weitz, and Michael P. Brenner
	Combinatorial AC NanoCalorimetry, In-situ X-ray diffraction and nanocalorimetry setup Joost J. Vlassak, John M. Gregoire, and Kechao Xiao
	Particles at Liquid Interfaces, Energy Barrier to Particle Surface Adsorption Frans Spaepen
2011
	Softer-than-Skin Electronics, Sensors, and Adaptive Materials R.J. Wood, G.M. Whitesides, and Z. Suo
	Universal Gripper for Soft Robotics G.M. Whitesides and R.J. Wood
	Crystals on Curved Surfaces V.N. Manoharan and D.R. Nelson
	Statistical Mechanics of Pressurized Shells D.R. Nelson and D.A. Weitz
	Conical Indentation of PDMS Gels Z. Suo and J.J. Vlassak
	Nanoporous Structures by Colloidal Co-Assembly J. Aizenberg and L. Mahadevan
	New Route to Fabricating PDMS-Based Microfluidic Components D.R. Clarke and Z. Suo
	Soft Lithography Fabrication New Shared Experimental Facility
	New England Workshop on the Mechanics of Materials and Structures
2010
	Aberration Corrected Electron Microscopes New Tools in the Shared Experimental Facilities
	Catalysis for CO₂ Reduction Aspuru-Guzik, Betley, Friend
	Creating New High Tech Jobs
	Development of a RheoConfocal Microscope
	Entropy Favors Asymmetry in Colloidal Self-Assembly Guangnan Meng, Natalie Arkus, Michael P. Brenner, and Vinothan N. Manoharan
	Ferro-Sponges for Drug and Cell Delivery Xuanhe Zhao, Jaeyun Kim, and David Mooney
	Pneumatic Belt Xin Chen, Coskun Kocabas, and George M. Whitesides
	Sequential Adsorption Model of Microfiber Clustering Jayson Paulose, David R. Nelson, and Joanna Aizenberg
	Soft Matter Science Revealed through Cooking
	Spindle Nanosurgery by Femtosecond Laser Valeria Nuzzo, Eric Mazur, Jan Brugues, and Dan Needleman
2009
	Soft Electrostatic Patches Robert J. Wood and Michael Petralia
	New Paradigm for Shared Experimental Facilities TA Instruments Center for Thermal and Mechanical Analysis
	New Ordered Hierarchical Helical Assemblies Boaz Pokroy, Sung H. Kang, L. Mahadevan, and Joanna Aizenberg
	Combinatorial Nano-Calorimetry on Ti-Ni-Zr Joost J. Vlassak and Patrick J. McCluskey
	Osmotically-Driven Flows in Microchannels Separated by a Semi-Permeable Membrane N. Michele Holbrook and Jinkee Lee (Harvard); Kaare Hartvig Jensen, Thomas Bohr, and Henrik Bruus (Technical University of Denmark)
	Engineering the Optical Properties of Colloidal Suspensions Adeline Perro, Guangnan Meng, and Vinothan N. Manoharan
	From Bean to Bar: The Sweet Science of Chocolate Holiday Lecture for Families Howard A. Stone and Amy Rowat
	Cooking and Science: A Conversation on Creativity Ferran Adrià (El Bulli, Barcelona, Spain)
	Tracking Cells in Three Dimensions Prakriti Tayalia, David Mooney, and Eric Mazur
	Muira-Foldable Thin Films Jin-Oh You, Radhika Nagpal, and Debra Auguste
Top 2008
	BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard
	Squishy, Gooey, Stretchy: The Science of Making Pizza Holiday Lecture for Families H.A. Stone and A. Rowat
	Defects in Thin Nematic Shells D.R. Nelson and D.A. Weitz
	Biomimetic Thin Film Muscles K.K. Parker and G.M. Whitesides
	Behavior of Microtubules in Cells L. Mahadevan and D.A. Weitz
	Shear Transformation Zones in Colloidal Glasses F. Spaepen and D.A. Weitz
Top 2007
	Rheometer Facility
	Industrial Outreach Workshop
	Holiday Lecture for Children and Parents Howard A. Stone
	Gender Equity Workshop Cynthia M. Friend
	A Biophysical and Biomechanical Analysis of Worm Motile Behavior Aravintham Samuel and Lakshminarayan Mahadevan
	Optimal Vein Density in Artificial and Real Leaves M. Zwienicki, N.M. Holbrook, L. Mahadevan, and D.A. Weitz
	How Bumps on Whale Flippers Delay Stall Ernst van Nierop, Silas Alben, and Michael P. Brenner
	Surface Tension Driven Motion Jacques Dumais
	Optical Tweezers Mara Prentiss
	Probing Neuronal Origin of Behavior in C. Elegans Samuel Chung, Aravinthan Samuel, Eric Mazur, and Jonathan Kamler
	Hybrid Structures of Hard and Soft Materials of Small Features Zhigang Suo
	Fundamental Structural Rearrangements in a Flowing Glass Frans Spaepen and David A. Weitz
Top 2006
	The P-nDSC: A Combinatorial Approach to Thermal Analysis of Materials
	Nanoindentation of Colloidal Crystals
	Sub-Cellular Nanosurgery in Live Cells Using Ultrashort Laser Pulses
	Cells on Asymmetric Patterns
	Nematic Textures in Spherical Shells
	Microfluidic Assembly of Colloidal Armor
	Surface Tension Rockets
	Self-Assembly of Supported and Unsupported Thin Films
	Public Presentations
	Postdoctoral Professional Development: Cool Labs, Hot Topics at the Museum of Science, Boston
	Frontiers of Soft Condensed Matter Workshop: Inter-MRSEC and Industry Partnership
	Creation of New High Tech Jobs
Top 2005
	Double Emulsions: Droplets inside Droplets D.A. Weitz
	Public Presentations/Strange Matter Exhibit
	Enriching Teacher Professional Development and K12 Education through RET
	A Low-Cost and Portable Medical and Diagnostic Devices Targeted for the Third World G.M. Whitesides and D.A. Edwards
	Biomechanics at the Scale of the Cell and below Using Laser Surgery D. Ingber, E. Mazur and D.A. Weitz
	Direct Visualization of Shear in a Colloidal Glass F. Spaepen and D.A. Weitz
	Crawling of C. Elegans: How a Worm's Motion Leads to Fundamental Understanding at the Interface of Biomechanics and Neuroscience A. Samuel and L. Mahadevan
Top 2004
	Career Development for Young Scientists Educational Programs
	Fracture in Drying Nanoparticle Suspensions Weitz, Hutchinson, and Xie
Top 2003
	From Bosnian Emigré to Graduate Study Tanja Hadzic, (Department of Immunolgy, University of Iowa)
	How Research Opportunities Shape Scientific Careers Dr. Nadya Mason, (Society of Junior Fellows, Harvard University).
	Colloidosomes: Self-Assembled Permeable Solid Shells Weitz
	Packing Spheres on a Spherical Surface: New Solution to a 100-year-old Problem Nelson and Weitz
Top 2002
	Attractive Interactions Between Like-Charged Colloidal Particle on Surfaces Michael Brenner and David Weitz
	Stress Evolution During E-Beam Deposition of Amorphous Alumina Frans Spaepen
	Novel Laser Patterning of Silicon Surfaces Cynthia Friend and Eric Mazur
	CARS Imaging of Cells Sunney Xie
Top 2001
	Avalanche Photodiode using Microtextured Silicon Eric Mazur and Cynthia Friend
	Ab-initio Multiscale Simulation of Piezoelectric Response Efthimios Kaxiras and Jim Rice
	Fabrication of Complex, 3-D Microstructures George Whitesides
	Generating Microgradients George Whitesides and Howard Stone
	Photodisruption in Cells using Femtosecond Laser Pulses Eric Mazur and Donald Ingber
	Micromachining Transparent Materials with Femtosecond Laser Pulses Eric Mazur
	Atom Cloud Trapped by Magnetic Laminate inside a Magneto Optical Trap Mara Prentiss
	Electron Flow in a High Mobility Two Dimensional Electron Gas Eric Heller and Robert Westervelt
	Fluctuating Spin g-tensor in Small Metal Grains Bertrand Halperin
	Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy and Spectroscopy. BEEM/BEES. Venky Narayanamurti
	Three-Dimensional Networks of Fluid Channels in PDMS George Whitesides
	Optical Waveguides Eric Mazur
	Ultrathin Uniform Nanowires Michael Tinkham
	Micro-Electromagnet Atom Guide Mara Prentiss and Robert Westervelt
	GaSb Self-Assembled Quantum Dots on GaAs Venky Narayanamurti
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