Issue 8, 2024

Stimuli-responsive nanoparticle self-assembly at complex fluid interfaces: a new insight into dynamic surface chemistry

Abstract

The self-assembly of core/shell nanoparticles (NPs) at fluid interfaces is a rapidly evolving area with tremendous potential in various fields, including biomedicine, display devices, catalysts, and sensors. This review provides an in-depth exploration of the current state-of-the-art in the programmed design of stimuli-responsive NP assemblies, with a specific focus on inorganic core/organic shell NPs below 100 nm for their responsive adsorption properties at fluid and polymer interfaces. The interface properties, such as ligands, charge, and surface chemistry, play a significant role in dictating the forces and energies governing both NP–NP and NP–hosting matrix interactions. We highlight the fundamental principles governing the reversible surface chemistry of NPs and present detailed experimental examples in the following three key aspects of stimuli-responsive NP assembly: (i) stimuli-driven assembly of NPs at the air/liquid interface, (ii) reversible NP assembly at the liquid/liquid interface, including films and Pickering emulsions, and (iii) hybrid NP assemblies at the polymer/polymer and polymer/water interfaces that exhibit stimuli-responsive behaviors. Finally, we address current challenges in existing approaches and offer a new perspective on the advances in this field.

Graphical abstract: Stimuli-responsive nanoparticle self-assembly at complex fluid interfaces: a new insight into dynamic surface chemistry

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
25 nov 2023
Accepted
29 jan 2024
First published
30 jan 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale, 2024,16, 3951-3968

Stimuli-responsive nanoparticle self-assembly at complex fluid interfaces: a new insight into dynamic surface chemistry

J. Heo, S. Seo, H. Yun and K. H. Ku, Nanoscale, 2024, 16, 3951 DOI: 10.1039/D3NR05990A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements