Electrified Jetting of Nanocolloids
We recently reported that anisotropic material distribution can be induced at the nanometer scale by the use of electrified jetting (Roh et al. Nature Materials 2005, 4, 759–763). We use side-by-side dual capillaries to expose two distinct parallel polymer solutions to an electrical field simultaneously. The biphasic geometry of the particles is induced by sustaining the interface between the two jetting solutions during the jet fragmentation and size reduction accompanying solvent evaporation. As reported in this article, the individual phases of these polymer-based Janus particles can be independently loaded with biomolecules or selectively modified with reactive ligands. We are further designing this type of nanocolloid for applications in multi-functional drug delivery, molecular imaging, or guided self-assembly.