System for forming janus particles
View Patent ↗The invention is a method of forming Janus particles, that includes forming an emulsion that contains initial particles, a first liquid, and a second liquid; solidifying the first liquid to form a solid that contains at least a portion of the initial particles on a surface of the solid; and treating the exposed particle sides with a first surface modifying agent, to form the Janus particles. Each of the initial particles on the surface has an exposed particle side and a blocked particle side.
1. A method of forming Janus particles, comprising:
forming an emulsion comprising initial particles, a first liquid, and a second liquid;
solidifying the first liquid to form solid droplets, each solid droplet of the first liquid comprising at least a portion of multiple initial particles on a surface of the solid droplet,
wherein the initial particles on the surface each has an exposed particle side and a blocked particle side; and
treating the exposed particle sides with a first surface modifying agent, to form the Janus particles.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the initial particles is at the interface between the first and second liquids in the emulsion.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial particles comprise from 1×10 −4 to 1.5×10 −1 of the total mass fraction of the emulsion; the first liquid comprises from 5×10 −2 to 0.50 of the total mass fraction of the emulsion; and the second liquid comprises from 0.42 to 0.95 of the total mass fraction of the emulsion.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solidifying comprises lowering the temperature of the first liquid.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solidifying comprises polymerizing the first liquid.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing the second liquid after solidifying the first liquid.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising isolating the solid.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the treating comprises contacting the exposed particle sides with a solution comprising the first surface modifying agent.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the treating comprises exposing the exposed particle sides to electromagnetic radiation.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising forming the initial particles by modifying precursor particles.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the initial particles comprise microparticles or nanoparticles; the first liquid comprises paraffin wax; and the second liquid comprises water.
12. A method of forming Janus particles, comprising:
forming an emulsion comprising initial particles, a first liquid, a second liquid, and a surfactant;
solidifying the first liquid to form solid droplets, each solid droplet of the first liquid comprising at least a portion of multiple initial particles on a surface of the solid droplet,
wherein the initial particles on the surface each has an exposed particle side and a blocked particle side; and
treating the exposed particle sides with a first surface modifying agent, to form the Janus particles.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the Janus particles have a Janus balance of 10 percent to 50 percent.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the initial particles comprise microparticles or nanoparticles; the first liquid comprises paraffin wax; and the second liquid comprises water.