From nanoemulsion crystallization to anomalous polymer-nanoparticle co-assembly: the formation of crystalsomes
Crystallization is a ubiquitous natural process, and semicrystalline polymers are essential in everyday materials. This talk focuses on hollow spherical polymer crystals, or crystalsomes, whose shape is incommensurate with three-dimensional translational symmetry. Crystalsomes are formed either through controlled crystallization in nanoemulsions—where curved interfaces guide growth—or via spontaneous symmetry breaking in systems such as molecular bottlebrushes and polymer-nanoparticle co-assembly. The presentation will highlight their fabrication, formation mechanisms, and curvature-dependent properties, along with examples including homopolymer, block copolymer, and nanoparticle-based crystalsomes. Comparisons between nanoemulsion-templated and symmetry-breaking-driven crystalsomes will be discussed. These new structures represent a unique class of polymer nanoparticles with promising applications in drug delivery, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and nanocomposites.