Controllable Fabrication And Assembly Of Monodispersed Polymer Colloids With Designed Functions

Monodisperse colloids have found a wide range of applications in areas such as fundamental physics,materials science,energy migration,sensing due to their specific optical,electromagnetic,and surface physicochemical properties.Comparing to other types of colloids,polymer colloids are easy to prepare,cost-effective,and versatile with regards to modification and functionalization.The functionalization of the polymer colloids is essential for their properties and applications.So far,a variety of strategies have been developed to the preparation and assembly of monodisperse polymer colloids with desired functions.However,precise control of the mechanical properties,surface groups,responsiveness,morphologies,and structures of the polymer colloids is still challenging.In addition,there is still a lack of effective strategies with regards to precise control of the assembly structures in multiscale.In this thesis,to address these challenges,we developed several strategies that allowed us to realize the fabrication of functional polymer colloids with controllable mechanical properties,surface groups,responsiveness,structures,and morphologies in an effortless and cost-effective manner.The formation mechanism of these polymer colloids has been systematically studied.Furthermore,these novel polymer colloids were employed as the building blocks in various types of practical applications.The main research contents are as follows:(1)A novel type of multi-responsive elastic poly(methyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate)(P(MMA-BA))polymer colloids were developed and employed as the building block for multiple applications such as color display,optical sensor,and intelligent anti-counterfeit labels.The P(MMA-BA)polymer colloids were fabricated through the soap-free emulsion polymerization method by one step.In addition,the size,mechanical property,and responsiveness of the P(MMA-BA)colloids were found to be tunable by adjusting the monomer amount or introducing the functional monomers such as sodium p-styrene sulfonate(Na PSS),acrylic acid(AA),and acrylamide(AAm).Furthermore,multi-responsive elastic polymer colloids with fluorescence were prepared by adding fluorescent molecules in the synthesis process.Using these polymer colloids as the building block,the multi-responsive elastic colloidal photonic crystals(CPCs)were fabricated,these CPCs have found broad applications in dynamic color display,optical sensing,and anti-counterfeiting.(2)A modified type of highly charged elastic P(MMA-BA)colloids was synthesized and employed as the building blocks for the 3D printable non-close-packed CPC ink.By combining the advantages of digital light processing(DLP)-based 3D printing and the ink,we were able to effectively print sophisticated 3D CPCs possessing vast design flexibility at the macroscale that could not be easily achieved by conventional manufacturing.This strategy of 3D-printing structural CPCs allowed us to mimic the hierarchical structures and color-manipulation strategies of some creatures in nature,by carefully adjusting the concentration of the polymer colloids,components of the ink,and the print parameters,we were able to demonstrate the production of biomimetic and functional CPCs including 3D-printed CPCs with temperaturedependent structural colors,four-dimensional(4D)-printed CPCs that owned temperaturedependent structural colors and shapes,and multicolor patterns featuring tunable structural colors.To our best knowledge,this is the first demonstration of the full-color 3D-printed CPCs with arbitrary 3D macroscale structures and adjustable functions.This technology would likely be broadly appliable in multiple functional optical devices,such as intelligent color displays,3D integrated sensors,biomimetic color-morphing soft robots,and smart anti-counterfeiting labels,among others.(3)A strategy for the kinetically controlled fabrication of polystyrene(PS)colloids was developed.Herein,we report a versatile approach to the fabrication of nonspherical PS colloids with controllable and symmetry-breaking morphologies on the basis of kinetically controlled seed-mediated polymerization and selective removal of the second polymer.We systematically investigated the formation mechanism of these nonspherical colloids by monitoring the evolution of seeds during the reaction.These nonspherical colloids were employed as building blocks for the fabrication of micro-nano morphology-controllable surfaces or superstructures.