Soft Matter Blog

Researchers have devised a new method to transport micro cargo – by attaching it to chains of colloidal particles that wiggle their way through liquid crystals.

The research team, led by Hiroshi Orihara from Hokkaido University, Japan, and Christian Bahr from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Germany, created colloidal ‘caterpillars’ from surface-modified silica particles which self-assemble into chains when placed in a liquid crystal medium. To make them move, the team exploit an effect called electrohydrodynamic convection (EHC), where the application of an electric field creates a convective pattern of parallel rolls within the medium. The caterpillars travel in an undulating motion across successive rolls, driven by a combination of hydrodynamic flow and electric field effects. Excitingly, the caterpillars can be attached to and used to transport larger particles and liquid droplets, which are in themselves too big to be moved by the EHC rolls.

To read the full article visit Chemistry World.

Already used in everything from paints to optical materials, colloids have found an entirely new application: as computing elements capable of high density information storage.

US collaborators Sharon Glotzer from University of Michigan and David Pine from New York University have designed a system of reconfigurable colloidal clusters which show potential for performing computational functions in unconventional environments. The team’s ‘digital colloids’ are based on specially designed dimpled particles, which, through entropic interactions, can be made to assemble onto a central sphere and explore various configurations on the sphere’s surface.

To read the full article please visit Chemistry World.