Color- and shape-tunable colloidal nanoparticles capable of nanopatterning

Abstract

Color- and shape-tunable nanoparticles consisting of phase-separated copolymers within each particle were synthesized using emulsion copolymerization synthesis. Each particle consists of two phases: (1) poly(methyl methacrylate/n-butylacrylate) (p(MMA/nBA)) phase, which is responsible for a particle shape control, and (2) poly(n-butylacrylate/pentafluorostyrene/N,N-dimethyl aminoazoaniline methacrylate) (p(nBA/PFS/DMAAZOAMm)) phase, facilitating tunable color changes and fluorescence emission induced by acidic/basic environments. Since these particles are capable of coalescence, these studies also show simple nano-deposition process will result in ∼200–300 nm width nanowires with “polka-dot” morphologies, offering many diversified applications ranging from high-resolution inexpensive display technologies to nano-sensing devices, or multi-drug and multi-transient delivery systems.