Synthesis from Molecule into 3D Polyamide 6 Microspheres Stacked Polyhedrons via Self-Assembly

Self-assembly provides the basis for a procedure used to organize larger objects into regular, 3D microsphere stacked polyhedrons. A novel approach is described for the fabrication of 3D structured micrometer-scale polyhedrons which are packed with nanosized spheres in the order of 400 nm by in situ polymerization using phase inversion technology. The extended polyhedrons can assemble into decimeter-level ordered materials. The side length of an individual polyhedron can be effectively tuned from 10 to 100 mu m through several ways. This method realizes directly self-assembly from molecule to regular extended polyhedrons materials. The process is primarily based on in situ anion polymerization of lactam in two-phase system whose self-assembly is driven by hydrogen bonds' force and polyethylene glycol stepwise crystallization synergistically. The results suggest that this strategy for self-assembly can be applied to design nonplanar complex geometric structure materials. In the future, polyhedrons packed with microspheres may be possible to build more complex 3D, self-assembly device modules for advanced materials.