Colloids are promising building blocks in material synthesis because of their controllability of size and surface properties. The synthesis of chemically and/or geometrically anisotropic colloidal particles has received attentions with the expectation of building blocks for complex structures. However, the synthesis of anisotropic colloidal particles is by far more difficult than the synthesis of spherical colloidal particles. Lack of monodispersity and productivity of many anisotropic particles often limits their applications as a building block for complex structures. Thus, it is highly desirable to develop methods which can produce a large amount of monodisperse non-spherical particles with controllable asymmetric surface properties. This dissertation details the work for developing such a method. The major result of this dissertation is a synthetic method to produce monodisperse non-spherical colloids with anisotropic surface property in a large quantity. The anisotropic colloid, which we call it as Dimer particle, has two fused lobes like a dumbbell and each lobe’s size can be independently controlled. We present a novel method to synthesize sub-micron size Dimer particles. This method can produce a large amount of submicron-sized Dimer particles with good monodispersity and well-controlled shape. Submicron-sized Dimer particles have been highly desired since they can be used as a building block for self assembly using Brownian motion, colloidal surfactant for Pickering emulsion, and photonic materials. To fully take advantage of the anisotropy of the particles, we develop a facile method to tailor the surface property of each lobe independently by asymmetrically coating the particles with gold nanoparticles. This method doesn’t need the arrangement of particles onto any type of interfaces. Asymmetric coating of gold nanoparticles can be carried out simply by mixing Dimer particles with gold nanoparticles. The formation mechanism of the submicron-sized Dimer particles is explained with evidences. Finally, we illustrate that Dimer particles show rich phase behavior under electric fields and explain the behavior by considering various interactions involved in the system. Our investigation shows that electric field can effectively control the orientation and assembled structure of Dimer particles. In conclusion, these asymmetrically functionalized Dimer particles are promising building blocks to generate suprastructures that will be useful in photonic, electronic and diagnostic applications. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

Neste trabalho, estudamos a dinâmica de formação e dispersão de agregados de látex quando inseridos num cristal líquido liotrópico. Esse cristal líquido é um sistema ternário composto de laurato de potássio, cloreto de decilamônia e água; e apresenta fases nemáticas uniaxiais calamítica e discótica (NC e ND, respectivamente) e biaxial (NB). As partículas de látex possuem diâmetro de 100nm e partículas com diferentes tipos de recobrimentos foram testadas. Observamos que nas fases NC e NB há formação de aglomerados de partículas, porém na transição para a fase ND as partículas se dispersam no meio. Verificamos que esse processo de aglomeração e dissociação das partículas está relacionado com a transição de fase NB - ND e foi observado em dois sistemas hospedeiros por resfriamento e por aquecimento. No intervalo de temperatura que corresponde à fase nemática biaxial para o cristal líquido puro, observa-se que há um aumento na dimensão dos aglomerados, que se tornam anemométrico e orientados na direção de orientação do meio. Dois diagramas de fases foram construídos, variando-se a concentração de partículas dispersas no meio, e a composição relativa de surfactantes do sistema hospedeiro. Experimentos de espalhamento de raios X indicam que a distância média entre as micelas que formam o meio hospedeiro não é alterado pela inserção de partículas no cristal líquido e permanece a mesma em todas as fases nemáticas. Foram também realizados estudos de reologia que mostram que a viscosidade do sistema é alterada pela presença das partículas de látex. Os fenômenos observados são interpretados levando-se em conta as flutuações de orientação das micelas nas diferentes fases nemáticas. / In this work, we studied the dynamics of agglomeration and dissociation of latex particles when inserted into a lyotropic liquid crystal. This liquid crystal is a ternary system formed by potassium laurate, decilamonium chloride and water, presenting uniaxial calamitic and discotic nematic phases (NC e ND, respectively) and a biaxial nematic phase NB. The latex particles have diameter of 100 nm and particles with different surface treatments were tested. It was observed that in the NC e NB phases the latex particles form agglomerates, however in the transition to the ND phase, the particles disperse in the medium. In the temperature domain of the biaxial nematic phase the agglomerates increase in size, become anisometric and oriented along parallel to the orientation of the medium. Two phase diagrams were built by varying the particle concentration dispersed in the liquid crystal and by varying the relative composition of surfactants of the liquid crystal. X rays diffusion experiments have shown that the average distance between the micelles in the host medium are not affected by the presence of the latex particles and remain the same in all nematic phases. Rheology studies were also performed and it was found that the viscosity of the system is affected by the presence of the particles. The observed phenomenon are interpreted taking into account the orientational fluctuations of miceles in the different nematic phases.

Neste trabalho, estudamos a dinâmica de formação e dispersão de agregados de látex quando inseridos num cristal líquido liotrópico. Esse cristal líquido é um sistema ternário composto de laurato de potássio, cloreto de decilamônia e água; e apresenta fases nemáticas uniaxiais calamítica e discótica (NC e ND, respectivamente) e biaxial (NB). As partículas de látex possuem diâmetro de 100nm e partículas com diferentes tipos de recobrimentos foram testadas. Observamos que nas fases NC e NB há formação de aglomerados de partículas, porém na transição para a fase ND as partículas se dispersam no meio. Verificamos que esse processo de aglomeração e dissociação das partículas está relacionado com a transição de fase NB - ND e foi observado em dois sistemas hospedeiros por resfriamento e por aquecimento. No intervalo de temperatura que corresponde à fase nemática biaxial para o cristal líquido puro, observa-se que há um aumento na dimensão dos aglomerados, que se tornam anemométrico e orientados na direção de orientação do meio. Dois diagramas de fases foram construídos, variando-se a concentração de partículas dispersas no meio, e a composição relativa de surfactantes do sistema hospedeiro. Experimentos de espalhamento de raios X indicam que a distância média entre as micelas que formam o meio hospedeiro não é alterado pela inserção de partículas no cristal líquido e permanece a mesma em todas as fases nemáticas. Foram também realizados estudos de reologia que mostram que a viscosidade do sistema é alterada pela presença das partículas de látex. Os fenômenos observados são interpretados levando-se em conta as flutuações de orientação das micelas nas diferentes fases nemáticas. / In this work, we studied the dynamics of agglomeration and dissociation of latex particles when inserted into a lyotropic liquid crystal. This liquid crystal is a ternary system formed by potassium laurate, decilamonium chloride and water, presenting uniaxial calamitic and discotic nematic phases (NC e ND, respectively) and a biaxial nematic phase NB. The latex particles have diameter of 100 nm and particles with different surface treatments were tested. It was observed that in the NC e NB phases the latex particles form agglomerates, however in the transition to the ND phase, the particles disperse in the medium. In the temperature domain of the biaxial nematic phase the agglomerates increase in size, become anisometric and oriented along parallel to the orientation of the medium. Two phase diagrams were built by varying the particle concentration dispersed in the liquid crystal and by varying the relative composition of surfactants of the liquid crystal. X rays diffusion experiments have shown that the average distance between the micelles in the host medium are not affected by the presence of the latex particles and remain the same in all nematic phases. Rheology studies were also performed and it was found that the viscosity of the system is affected by the presence of the particles. The observed phenomenon are interpreted taking into account the orientational fluctuations of miceles in the different nematic phases.