Uniform Nonspherical Colloidal Particles with Tunable Shapes

A framework for large-scale synthesis of a variety of uniform nonspherical particle types (see figure) is introduced. The technique involves controlling the directionality of phase separations in the seeded-polymerization technique by manipulating the crosslinking density gradients of the dimer seed particles, thus allowing the obtainment of novel nonspherical particle shapes and the production of sufficient quantities to characterize their bulk properties.