Fabrication of Liquid Protrusions on Non-Cross-Linked Colloidal Particles for Shape-Controlled Patchy Microparticles

The use of single particles as building blocks for the design and construction of advanced materials is generally recognized as a promising approach. This paper reports a novel double-speed swelling (DSS) technique to fabricate solid–liquid asymmetric monomer-swollen particles (MSPs) with adjustable and removable liquid protrusions on the surface of non-cross-linked poly­(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) colloidal particles, although this procedure is thermodynamically unfavorable. Further, PGMA/polystyrene (PS) patchy microparticles with controllable morphologies are fabricated by a versatile and large-scale seeded emulsion polymerization (SEP) on the basis of these MSPs. The size and number of protrusions can be precisely regulated by the swelling ratio and the amount of polymerizable monomer. These patchy microparticles exhibit excellent light reflection and could be applied as new thermal barrier coatings. Additionally, the self-assembled “particle gel” membranes with superoleophilic properties have been employed to absorb model oil and exhibited efficient absorption performance.