Fabrication and assembly of thin microgel particles with controlled curvature

Microgels are soft colloids that consist of polymer networks swollen in an aqueous solution. Such particles display a dual colloid-polymer nature that can be made responsive to stimuli such as pH and temperature. To date, studies on assembly of responsive microgels have been focused almost entirely on spherical geometries. In this work, we explore the assembly of multilayer, anisotropic microgels of rectangular shapes. These building blocks are fabricated with photolithography, and the inclusion of multiple layers within the particle in addition to various processing conditions allow us to control particle curvature due to swelling differences across layers. Using depletion interactions, we investigate curvature- and shape-dependent interactions in the assembly of these microgels. Finally, we study the effects of shape-morphing on final assembly structures, taking advantage of the microgel responsiveness to temperature and pH.<!-- This part is a little more aspirational than I usually aim for, unless there are recent results I haven't seen yet. I am OK with it, especially for a poster, in that presumably you will have at least something to show along these lines, but could consider softening a little bit --> Our findings are expected to guide the design of complex particle shapes to control assembly of responsive microstructures.