Photomanipulatable colloidal clusters from the aggregation of azo molecular glass spheres

Colloidal clusters with well-controlled shapes have attracted extensive interest in the fields of materials, chemistry, physics, and biology. This communication reports the controllable fabrication of photoresponsive colloidal clusters with a wide range of adjustable sizes and complex architectures through an approach of microsphere formation and fusion. The clusters of colloidal spheres were obtained via adding ethanol dropwise into a tetrahydrofuran solution of an isosorbide-based azo compound (IAC-4). In the process, the colloidal spheres with soft and sticky shells were first formed in the dispersion. After stirring at an appropriate rate and time, clusters composed of controlled numbers of colloidal spheres were obtained. With increasing stirring time, the colloidal spheres in the clusters underwent fusion transforming into a range of structures with particular architectures. The structure formation, evolution and control were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Under linearly polarized light irradiation, colloidal spheres in the clusters in the solid state were observed to be stretched along the direction of electric-field oscillation and these clusters were thus transformed into complex particles with unique morphologies. This exploration can lead to a new methodology to effectively fabricate colloidal clusters with complex architectures and shed new light on colloidal packing and organization under the driving forces of extrinsic energy input.