Structured Liquids with pH-Triggered Reconfigurability.

Huang, Caili; Sun, Zhiwei; Cui, Mengmeng; Liu, Feng; Helms, Brett A; Russell, Thomas P · Adv Mater · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Through pH-tuning of electrostatic interactions between polymer ligands and nanoparticles at structured-liquid interfaces, liquid droplets can be directed between a jammed nonequilibrium state and a dynamic reconfigurable state. The nanoparticle-surfactant dynamics highly depend on the pH, so that the liquids can be structured using an external field and under variation of pH, or alternatively being realized by remote photo-triggering.