Beyond Equilibrium Assemblies: Applying Light, Flow, and Confinement.

Abstract

We report the flow and microstructural behavior of colloidal dispersions and surfactant assemblies away from bulk equilibrium conditions. Self-assembly methods have slow time scales and large material requirements, and are not applicable to the dynamic industrial processing conditions. By introducing light, flow, and confinement, we find a mechanism for directed assembly of colloidal crystals, a regime of near-wall velocity fluctuations of surfactant assemblies under flow, and a method for generating droplets with intrinsic mechanical properties from their internal microstructures.