Spotlights

Phase separation of a tripolymer solution in a capillary
Periodic alignment of binary polymer droplets is spontaneously formed via the microphase separation of a tripolymer solution in a capillary.

A research team led by Ph.D. student Mayu Shono and Professor Akihisa Shioi from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, preserved the alignment of microdroplets, revealing how biological molecules self-assemble and opening possibilities for creating artificial cells.

The self-organization of microdroplets in polymer systems due to phase separation holds potential for biological and medical applications. However, retaining the order aligned for long periods of time by keeping the uniformity and distances has been challenging. Now, researchers at Doshisha University have generated repetitive alignment of binary cell-sized droplets in a spontaneous manner and preserved them for eight hours by confining a tripolymer solution in a capillary, with implications for improving drug delivery and biological molecule production.