Self-assembly of nanoparticles with stimulated responses at liquid interfaces

In recent decades, liquid interfaces have emerged as one of the most efficient platforms for creating unified layouts ranging from two-dimensional films to three-dimensional structures, where nanoparticles (NPs) with good particle size and functional groups play the role of building blocks. The increasing number of reports on the study of reactive systems opens new avenues for the construction of controllable nanomaterials at liquid-liquid interfaces (LLIs) through the reactivity of self-assembled NPs to applied stimuli. Here, we review the recent advances in the stimuli-responsive self-assembly of NPs at the liquid interface. The review starts with the fundamental theory of solid particles localized at the interface, then focuses on the behaviors of NPs at interfaces under the action of exogenous stimuli (light, temperature, electric and magnetic fields, etc.) and endogenous stimuli (pH, solvents, etc.), as well as multiple stimuli, followed by a brief summary of their applications, and finally discusses the future research and potential challenges in the self-assembly of NPs at LLIs. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd.