Scientific Highlights

4th February 2019
Micrograph showing the microfluidic chip used to create designer emulsions. Insets: First flow focusing device (top left) creating contact between the inner and middle phase. Middle left: flow focused on generating double emulsion droplets. Bottom row: gradual growth of the inner droplet. Picture: Iacopo Mattich/ETH Zurich

Designer Emulsions

The soft materials and complex groups at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and researchers from the KU Leuven, Belgium, have developed a generic and versatile method to create designer liquid-liquid interfaces, using transient double... (Read more)
8th February 2018
Optical images of dissolution of capsules with compositions highlighted in the figure showing (A-C) instantaneous, (D-E) sustained, pulsed and diffuse release. (F) High magnification images of the surface cracks of the capsule and (G) the emanating micron-sized nanoparticle clusters. (H) The droplet radius of the composite (D) capsule was found to remain approximately constant over time, and release of micron-sized nanoparticle clusters occurs in bursts, over long timescales, tuneable with pH. Copyright: Authors, taken without changes from 10.1126/sciadv.aao3353 which has been published under Creative Commons Licence CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0).

Nanocomposite Capsules with Directional, Pulsed Nanoparticle Release

The precise spatio-temporal delivery of nanoparticles from polymeric capsules is required for applications ranging from medicine to materials science. Researchers from the Imperial College London, UK, have demonstrated that microporosity and capsule morphology... (Read more)
8th February 2018
(a) Illustration of the different interaction mechanisms of the proteins, salt, and interface. (b) Sketch of protein adsorption on the attractive surface by increasing cs=cp. Copyright: Authors, reprinted with permission from DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.228001.

Multivalent Ion-Activated Protein Adsorption Reflecting Bulk Reentrant Behavior

Protein adsorption at the solid-liquid interface is an important phenomenon that often can be observed as a first step in biological processes. A team from Germany and Great Britain has demonstrated the control... (Read more)
18th January 2018
A team of researchers from CIC biomaGUNE, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid / Technical University of Madrid and Universidad Complutense de Madrid / Complutense University of Madrid have shown that it is possible to use special lasers to shape gold nanoparticles to enhance their properties to a degree of optical quality never seen previously. Science. 2017; 358, 640-644. Copyright: Andrés Guerrero.

Laser-Shaping Nanoparticles

A team of researchers from Spain have shown that it is possible to use special lasers to shape gold nanoparticles to enhance their properties to a degree of optical quality never seen previously... (Read more)