Advanced Materials, Vol.19, No.10, 1362-1362, 2007
Spontaneous assembly of magnetic microspheres
The first use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as assembling components in complex coacervation is presented. The single-step formation of MNP-based microspheres (see figure) can be considered as a NP self-assembly process induced by the presence of polyelectrolytes, in which solid microspheres are rapidly generated at ambient temperature, without the need for a solid template.