Self-assembly of latex particles is of great importance for fabricating various functional colloidal crystals. In this paper, we review recent research on the self-assembly of latex particles for colloidal crystals, covering the assembly forces and various assembly approaches of latex particles, including self-assembly by gravity sedimentation, vertical deposition, physical confinement, electric field, and magnetic field. Furthermore, some simple methods for assembling latex particles such as spin coating, spray coating, and printing are also summarized.
Microcapsules with multiple compartments are of significant importance in many applications such as smart drug delivery, microreactor, complicated sensor, and so on. Here we report a novel compound-fluidic electrospray method that could fabricate multicompartment microcapsules in a single step. The as-prepared microcapsules have multiple compartments inside. The compartments are separated from each other by inner walls made from shell materials, and different content can be independently loaded in each of them without any contact. We assemble a hierarchical compound nozzle by inserting certain numbers of metallic inner capillaries separately into a blunt metal needle. The particular configuration of the compound nozzle induces a completely and independently envelope of core fluids by shell fluid, as a result of which mulicomponent microcapsules with multicompartment structure can be obtained. And also, the number of inner compartments and the corresponding encapsulated components can be controlled by rationally designing the configuration of the compound nozzle. This general method can be readily extended to many other functional materials, especially for the effective encapsulation of active ingredients, such as sensitive and reactive materials.
