Powder Technology, Vol.278, 17-25, 2015
Artificial swarming: Towards radiofrequency control of reversible micro-particle aggregation and deposition
The ability to undergo a transition between dispersed or single-cellular state and aggregated or multi-cellular state provides distinct evolutionary advantages to many natural organisms. Due to a change of hydrodynamic diameter over several orders of magnitude and associated change of fluid-particle interaction (settling velocity) or intra-particle transport phenomena (heat transfer and/or diffusion) that typically scales with the square of the particle size, radically different behaviour can be achieved in terms of transport in a fluid environment, sourcing nutrition, escaping predators or maintaining homeostasis. In this work we report on the implementation of an artificial system that is able to undergo a reversible transition between dispersed and aggregated state, using the principles of "remote control" by radiofrequency (RF) signals. The individual artificial cells are represented by hollow-core SiO2/Fe3O4/PNIPAM microparticles with a stimuli-responsive porous shell that possess the following functionalities: (i) RF-induced local particle heating, due to the presence of superparamegnetic nanoparticles in the structure; (ii) temperature switchable storage/release functionality due to a combination of hollow-core porous silica skeleton with a PNIPAM layer; and (iii) temperature switchable aggregation, due to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic transition of the PNIPAM layer. The combination of RF-switchable aggregation and temperature-responsive release kinetics of a lipophilic substance makes it possible to trigger particle aggregation and deposition remotely, and thus control the release kinetics of encapsulated payload in both time and space. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.