Tunable thermo-reversible bicontinuous nanoparticle gel driven by the binary solvent segregation

Yuyin Xi, Ronald S. Lankone, Li-Piin Sung and Yun Liu ()
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Yuyin Xi: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Ronald S. Lankone: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Li-Piin Sung: National Institute of Standards and Technology
Yun Liu: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Bicontinuous porous structures through colloidal assembly realized by non-equilibrium process is crucial to various applications, including water treatment, catalysis and energy storage. However, as non-equilibrium structures are process-dependent, it is very challenging to simultaneously achieve reversibility, reproducibility, scalability, and tunability over material structures and properties. Here, a novel solvent segregation driven gel (SeedGel) is proposed and demonstrated to arrest bicontinuous structures with excellent thermal structural reversibility and reproducibility, tunable domain size, adjustable gel transition temperature, and amazing optical properties. It is achieved by trapping nanoparticles into one of the solvent domains upon the phase separation of the binary solvent. Due to the universality of the solvent driven particle phase separation, SeedGel is thus potentially a generic method for a wide range of colloidal systems.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20701-3

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