Planar submicronic silica–polystyrene particles obtained by substrate-directed shaping
Résumé
Original planar biphasic colloids are obtained by (i) using a growth-seeded emulsion polymerization process where a controlled number of polystyrene nodules are able to nucleate and grow on submicronic silica seeds to form multipods and (ii) shaping these multipods on a planar substrate by taking advantage of the softness of the polystyrene nodules. Hence, triangles, squares, diamonds, pentagons, hexagons, octagons or decagons are observed. The opportunity to control these morphologies thanks to experimental parameters such as the silica size and the styrene conversion is presented and discussed.