TY - JOUR
T1 - Freely Jointed Polymers Made of Droplets
AU - McMullen, Angus
AU - Holmes-Cerfon, Miranda
AU - Sciortino, Francesco
AU - Grosberg, Alexander Y.
AU - Brujic, Jasna
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Physical Society.
PY - 2018/9/26
Y1 - 2018/9/26
N2 - An important goal of self-assembly is to achieve a preprogrammed structure with high fidelity. Here, we control the valence of DNA-functionalized emulsions to make linear and branched model polymers, or "colloidomers." The distribution of cluster sizes is consistent with a polymerization process in which the droplets achieve their prescribed valence. Conformational statistics reveal that the chains are freely jointed, so that the Kuhn length is close to one bead diameter. The end-to-end length scales with the number of bonds N as Nν, where ν≈3/4, in agreement with the Flory theory in two dimensions. The chain diffusion coefficient D approximately scales as D-N-ν, as predicted by the Zimm model. Unlike molecular polymers, colloidomers can be repeatedly assembled and disassembled under temperature cycling, allowing for reconfigurable, responsive matter.
AB - An important goal of self-assembly is to achieve a preprogrammed structure with high fidelity. Here, we control the valence of DNA-functionalized emulsions to make linear and branched model polymers, or "colloidomers." The distribution of cluster sizes is consistent with a polymerization process in which the droplets achieve their prescribed valence. Conformational statistics reveal that the chains are freely jointed, so that the Kuhn length is close to one bead diameter. The end-to-end length scales with the number of bonds N as Nν, where ν≈3/4, in agreement with the Flory theory in two dimensions. The chain diffusion coefficient D approximately scales as D-N-ν, as predicted by the Zimm model. Unlike molecular polymers, colloidomers can be repeatedly assembled and disassembled under temperature cycling, allowing for reconfigurable, responsive matter.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.138002
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.138002
M3 - Article
C2 - 30312053
AN - SCOPUS:85053930427
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 121
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 13
M1 - 138002
ER -