Assembly and Reconfiguration of Clusters Formed By Isotropic and Anisotropic Colloids

Suprastructures at the colloidal scale must be assembled with precise control over local interactions to accurately mimic biological complexes. The toughest design requirements include breaking the symmetry of assembly in a simple and reversible fashion, to unlock functions and properties so far limited to living matter. We demonstrate a simple experimental technique to program magnetic-field-induced interactions between metallodielectric patchy particles and isotropic, non-magnetic ‘satellite’ particles. By controlling the connectivity, composition and distribution of building blocks, we show the assembly of three-dimensional, multi-component supraparticles which can dynamically reconfigure in response to change in external field strength. The local arrangement of building blocks and their reconfigurability is governed by a balance of attraction and repulsion between oppositely polarized domains, which we illustrate theoretically and tune experimentally. The assembled supraparticles are stabilized and recovered via photo-chemical manipulation of electrostatic interactions, using a photo-acid generator. Tunable, bulk assembly of colloidal matter with predefined symmetry provides a platform to design functional microstructured materials with pre-programmable physical and chemical properties.