Eugenia Kumacheva's Polymers, Interfaces, and Materials Science Group

Developing new concepts for self-assembly

Ensembles of inorganic nanoparticles show collective optical, electronic and magnetic properties that are different to those displayed by individual nanoparticles or bulk materials. Our group is interested in new strategies for the assembly of nanoparticles and microparticles in structures with a high degree of order and symmetry, and exploring their new properties. We are developing the rules and paradigms underlying the self-assembly of nanoparticles and micrometer-size colloid particles. In the first group of strategies, we work with anisotropic inorganic nanoparticles - metal and semiconductor nanorods. In the second approach, we merge top-down approaches with bottom-up self-organization of colloid particles. Here, we use the interplay of confinement and electric or shear field. Finally, we study microfluidic generation of droplets or bubbles and the assembly of colloid particles or molecules at the fluid-fluid interface.

Representative publications
  • Kumacheva et al. Colloid Crystal Growth on Mesoscopically Patterned Surfaces: Effect of Confinement. Adv. Mater. 14, 221-224 (2002)
  • Kumacheva et al. Two-Dimensional Colloid Crystals Obtained by Coupling of Flow and Confinement. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 128301-128304 (2003)
  • Seo et al. Microfluidics: from Dynamic Lattices to Periodic Arrays of Polymer Disks. Langmuir 21, 4773-4775 (2005)
  • Nie, Z. et al. Self-assembly of Metal-Polymer Analogues of Amphiphilic Triblock Copolymers. Nature Mater. 6, 609-614 (2007)
  • Nie, et al. 'Supramolecular' Assembly of Gold Nanorods End-Terminated with Polymer 'Pom-Poms': Effect of 'Pom-Pom' Structure on the Association Modes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 3683-3689 (2008).
  • Nie, Z. et al. An "Inside-Out" Microfluidic Approach to Monodisperse Emulsions Stabilized by Solid Particles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 16508-16509 (2008)
  • Nie, Z.H.; Petukhova, A.; Kumacheva, E. Properties and Emerging Applications of Self-assembled Structures of Inorganic Nanoparticles. Nature Nanotechnology 5, 15-25 (2010).