IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v4y2013i1d10.1038_ncomms2326.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blood-clotting-inspired reversible polymer–colloid composite assembly in flow

Author

Listed:
  • Hsieh Chen

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Mohammad A. Fallah

    (Experimental Physics I, University of Augsburg
    Boston University)

  • Volker Huck

    (Venereology and Allergology, Experimental Dermatology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg Ruprecht-Karls-University)

  • Jennifer I. Angerer

    (Experimental Physics I, University of Augsburg
    Boston University)

  • Armin J. Reininger

    (Baxter Innovations GmbH, 1030)

  • Stefan W. Schneider

    (Venereology and Allergology, Experimental Dermatology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg Ruprecht-Karls-University)

  • Matthias F. Schneider

    (Boston University)

  • Alfredo Alexander-Katz

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Blood clotting is a process by which a haemostatic plug is assembled at the site of injury. The formation of such a plug, which is essentially a (bio)polymer–colloid composite, is believed to be driven by shear flow in its initial phase, and contrary to our intuition, its assembly is enhanced under stronger flowing conditions. Here, inspired by blood clotting, we show that polymer–colloid composite assembly in shear flow is a universal process that can be tailored to obtain different types of aggregates including loose and dense aggregates, as well as hydrodynamically induced ‘log’-type aggregates. The process is highly controllable and reversible, depending mostly on the shear rate and the strength of the polymer–colloidbinding potential. Our results have important implications for the assembly of polymer–colloid composites, an important challenge of immense technological relevance. Furthermore, flow-driven reversible composite formation represents a new paradigm in non-equilibrium self-assembly.

Suggested Citation

  • Hsieh Chen & Mohammad A. Fallah & Volker Huck & Jennifer I. Angerer & Armin J. Reininger & Stefan W. Schneider & Matthias F. Schneider & Alfredo Alexander-Katz, 2013. "Blood-clotting-inspired reversible polymer–colloid composite assembly in flow," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-7, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2326
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2326
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2326
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms2326?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2326. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.