Fluid Flow Templating of Polymeric Soft Matter with Diverse Morphologies.

It is challenging to find a conventional nanofabrication technique that can reproducibly produce soft polymeric matter of high surface area and nanoscale morphology in a way that is scalable, versatile, and easily tunable. Here, w e explore the capabilities of a universal method for fabricating diverse nano- and microscale morphologies based on polymer precipitation templated by the fluid streamlines in multiphasic flow. W e show that while the procedure is operationally simple, various combinations of its intertwined mechanisms can controllably and reproducibly lead to the formation of an extraordinary wide range of colloidal morphologies. By systematically investigating the process conditions, w e identified twelve distinct classes of polymer micro- and nanostructures, including particles, rods, ribbons, nanosheets and soft dendritic colloids (dendricolloids). The outcomes are interpreted by delineating the physical processes into three stages: hydrodynamic shear, capillary and mechanical breakup, and polymer precipitation rate. The insights into the underlying fundamental mechanisms guide us towards developing a versatile and scalable nanofabrication platform. W e verify that the liquid shear-based technique is versatile and works well with many chemically diverse polymers and biopolymers, showing potential as a universal tool for simple and scalable nanofabrication of many morphologically distinct soft matter classes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.