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GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT
Soft Janus elastomers have two surfaces with diverse characteristics. In this work, by tuning the chemical composition and the surface roughness we were able to vary the wettability of thin films (thickness of 100–200 μm) and spheres (diameters in the order of 200 μm to 2 mm) and evidence the multifunction of the opposite sides. We also describe a simple and inexpensive method to reveal the wrinkled-labyrinthine patterns that appear in the Janus particles by means of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). LC contact angle measurements associated with the swelling and anchoring characteristics of the surfaces were used to image the Janus particles opening new platforms for sensor applications from flexible free-standing LCs containers.
Additional information
Funding
This work is funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020 Program and National Funds through FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under projects numbers POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-007688 (Reference UID/CTM/50025), PTDC/FIS-NAN/0117/2014, PTDC/CTM-BIO/6178/2014 and M-ERA-NET2/0007/2016(CellColor). A. P. C. Almeida and J.P. Canejo acknowledge the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education for National Funds, European Social Funds and FCT for fellowships with references SFRH/BD/115567/2016 and SFRH/BPD/101041/2014, respectively.