Assembly of Latex Particles by Using Emulsion Droplets. 3. Reverse (Water in Oil) System

The development of methods for the fabrication of advanced colloid materials is important for both today’s and future technologies. A number of different schemes for obtaining suspensions of colloid particleswith defined size, structure, and properties have been proposed.1-4 One general method of particular interest is the use of colloid-sized substrates and templates for fabricating complex particles.1,5,6 A wide variety of colloid systems and methods could be used for that purpose. Two of the simplest methods, which have already been utilized for a long time, are the heterocoagulation of particles of opposite charges7,8 and the production of core-shell latex microspheres.9,10 New types of particulate colloid materials have been obtained recently by using microemulsion droplets5,11 or vesicles.5,12 The use of emulsions as compartamentalized systems for the preparation of complex particles has however been restricted to a few cases,10,13 like the precipitation of submicrometer organic particles inside emulsion droplets.13 Recently, we proposed to use emulsion droplets as colloid-sized templates, which gather and assemble particles, suspended in the surrounding environment14,15 The