Spontaneous assembly of chemically encoded two-dimensional coacervate droplet arrays by acoustic wave patterning

Liangfei Tian, Nicolas Martin, Philip G. Bassindale, Avinash J. Patil, Mei Li, Adrian Barnes, Bruce W. Drinkwater and Stephen Mann ()
Additional contact information
Liangfei Tian: Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Nicolas Martin: Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Philip G. Bassindale: Faculty of Engineering, Queens Building, University of Bristol
Avinash J. Patil: Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Mei Li: Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Adrian Barnes: School of Physics, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol
Bruce W. Drinkwater: Faculty of Engineering, Queens Building, University of Bristol
Stephen Mann: Centre for Protolife Research and Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The spontaneous assembly of chemically encoded, molecularly crowded, water-rich micro-droplets into periodic defect-free two-dimensional arrays is achieved in aqueous media by a combination of an acoustic standing wave pressure field and in situ complex coacervation. Acoustically mediated coalescence of primary droplets generates single-droplet per node micro-arrays that exhibit variable surface-attachment properties, spontaneously uptake dyes, enzymes and particles, and display spatial and time-dependent fluorescence outputs when exposed to a reactant diffusion gradient. In addition, coacervate droplet arrays exhibiting dynamical behaviour and exchange of matter are prepared by inhibiting coalescence to produce acoustically trapped lattices of droplet clusters that display fast and reversible changes in shape and spatial configuration in direct response to modulations in the acoustic frequencies and fields. Our results offer a novel route to the design and construction of ‘water-in-water’ micro-droplet arrays with controllable spatial organization, programmable signalling pathways and higher order collective behaviour.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13068 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13068

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13068

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().