Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids

Sai Zhao; Yongkang Jiang; Yuchen Fu; Wei Chen; Qinrong Zhang; Liulin He; Changxiong Huang; Yao Liu; Xiao Cheng Zeng; Yu Chai

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-51657-3

Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids

Sai Zhao, Yongkang Jiang, Yuchen Fu, Wei Chen, Qinrong Zhang, Liulin He, Changxiong Huang^*, Yao Liu^*, Xiao Cheng Zeng^*, Yu Chai^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

22 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

The assembly of polymers at liquid-liquid interfaces offers a promising strategy for fabricating two-dimensional polymer films. However, a significant challenge arises when the polymers lack inherent interfacial traction. In response, we introduce an approach termed chaperone solvent-assisted assembly. This approach utilizes a target polymer, X, along with three solvents: α, β, and γ. α and β are poor solvents for X and immiscible with each other, while γ is a good solvent for X and miscible with both α and β, thus serving as the chaperone solvent. The cross-interface diffusion of γ induces the assembly of interfacially nonactive X at the α-β interface, and this mechanism is verified through systematic in situ and ex situ studies. We show that chaperone solvent-assisted assembly is versatile and reliable for the interfacial assembly of polymers, including those that are interfacially nonactive. Several practical applications based on chaperone solvent-assisted assembly are also demonstrated. © The Author(s) 2024.

Original language	English
Article number	7423
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	15
Online published	28 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51657-3
Publication status	Published - 2024

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project No.21304421, Y.C.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 22003053, Y.C.), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Project No. 2023A1515011457, Y.C.), the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province, China (Project No. 2023NSFSC0312, Y.C.), CityU Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant (Project No. 2020SIRG035, Y.C.), and Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study. The authors also thank OpenAI for editing.

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This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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title = "Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids",

abstract = "The assembly of polymers at liquid-liquid interfaces offers a promising strategy for fabricating two-dimensional polymer films. However, a significant challenge arises when the polymers lack inherent interfacial traction. In response, we introduce an approach termed chaperone solvent-assisted assembly. This approach utilizes a target polymer, X, along with three solvents: α, β, and γ. α and β are poor solvents for X and immiscible with each other, while γ is a good solvent for X and miscible with both α and β, thus serving as the chaperone solvent. The cross-interface diffusion of γ induces the assembly of interfacially nonactive X at the α-β interface, and this mechanism is verified through systematic in situ and ex situ studies. We show that chaperone solvent-assisted assembly is versatile and reliable for the interfacial assembly of polymers, including those that are interfacially nonactive. Several practical applications based on chaperone solvent-assisted assembly are also demonstrated. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024.",

author = "Sai Zhao and Yongkang Jiang and Yuchen Fu and Wei Chen and Qinrong Zhang and Liulin He and Changxiong Huang and Yao Liu and Zeng, {Xiao Cheng} and Yu Chai",

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journal = "Nature Communications",

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T1 - Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids

AU - Zhao, Sai

AU - Jiang, Yongkang

AU - Fu, Yuchen

AU - Chen, Wei

AU - Zhang, Qinrong

AU - He, Liulin

AU - Huang, Changxiong

AU - Liu, Yao

AU - Zeng, Xiao Cheng

AU - Chai, Yu

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - The assembly of polymers at liquid-liquid interfaces offers a promising strategy for fabricating two-dimensional polymer films. However, a significant challenge arises when the polymers lack inherent interfacial traction. In response, we introduce an approach termed chaperone solvent-assisted assembly. This approach utilizes a target polymer, X, along with three solvents: α, β, and γ. α and β are poor solvents for X and immiscible with each other, while γ is a good solvent for X and miscible with both α and β, thus serving as the chaperone solvent. The cross-interface diffusion of γ induces the assembly of interfacially nonactive X at the α-β interface, and this mechanism is verified through systematic in situ and ex situ studies. We show that chaperone solvent-assisted assembly is versatile and reliable for the interfacial assembly of polymers, including those that are interfacially nonactive. Several practical applications based on chaperone solvent-assisted assembly are also demonstrated. © The Author(s) 2024.

AB - The assembly of polymers at liquid-liquid interfaces offers a promising strategy for fabricating two-dimensional polymer films. However, a significant challenge arises when the polymers lack inherent interfacial traction. In response, we introduce an approach termed chaperone solvent-assisted assembly. This approach utilizes a target polymer, X, along with three solvents: α, β, and γ. α and β are poor solvents for X and immiscible with each other, while γ is a good solvent for X and miscible with both α and β, thus serving as the chaperone solvent. The cross-interface diffusion of γ induces the assembly of interfacially nonactive X at the α-β interface, and this mechanism is verified through systematic in situ and ex situ studies. We show that chaperone solvent-assisted assembly is versatile and reliable for the interfacial assembly of polymers, including those that are interfacially nonactive. Several practical applications based on chaperone solvent-assisted assembly are also demonstrated. © The Author(s) 2024.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-024-51657-3

DO - 10.1038/s41467-024-51657-3

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

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SN - 2041-1723

VL - 15

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

M1 - 7423

ER -

Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids

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ECS: In-situ Atomic Force Microscopy Study of the Nanoparticle Self-assembly at the Liquid Interface

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Chaperone solvent-assisted assembly of polymers at the interface of two immiscible liquids

Abstract

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ECS: In-situ Atomic Force Microscopy Study of the Nanoparticle Self-assembly at the Liquid Interface

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