3D assembly of preformed colloidal nanoparticles into gels and aerogels: function-led design

Function-Led Design of Aerogels: Self-Assembly of Alloyed PdNi Hollow Nanospheres for Efficient Electrocatalysis.

One plausible approach to endow aerogels with specific properties while preserving their other attributes is to fine-tune the building blocks. However, the preparation of metallic aerogels with designated properties, for example catalytically beneficial morphologies and transition-metal doping, still remains a challenge. Here, we report on the first aerogel electrocatalyst composed entirely of ...

Drying-mediated assembly of colloidal nanoparticles into large-scale microchannels.

Large-scale highly ordered microchannels were spontaneously and rapidly created by simply drying the colloidal nanoparticle suspension on a rigid substrate. Interestingly, free evaporation of colloidal suspension yielded radially aligned microchannels, while constrained evaporation that was rendered by the use of confined geometries composed of either two nearly parallel plates or a slide place...

Supplementary Information Assembly and Control of 3D Nematic Colloidal Crystals

Gravitational compression of colloidal gels.

We study the compression of depletion gels under the influence of a gravitational stress by monitoring the time evolution of the gel interface and the local volume fraction, φ, inside the gel. We find φ is not constant throughout the gel. Instead, there is a volume fraction gradient that develops and grows along the gel height as the compression process proceeds. Our results are correctly descr...

Gravitational collapse of colloidal gels.

We present a unified framework for understanding the compaction of colloidal gels under their own weight. The dynamics of the collapse are determined by the value of the gravitational stress sigma(g), as compared to the yield stress sigma(Y) of the network. For sigma(g)sigma(Y), th...