Versatile Macroscale Concentration Gradients of Nanoparticles in Soft Nanocomposites

Nanocomposite materials benefit from the diverse physicochemical properties featured by nanoparticles, and the presence of nanoparticle concentration gradients can lend functions to macroscopic materials beyond the realm of classical nanocomposites. It is shown here that linearity and time-shift invariance obtained via the synergism of two independent physical phenomena-translational self-diffusion and shear-driven dispersion-may give access to an exceptionally high degree of flexibility in the design of scalable and programmable long-range concentration gradients of nanoparticles in solidifiable liquid matrices.