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Lab-Created Lithoparticles Could Have Many Uses

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LOS ANGELES, March 21, 2007 -- Billions of fluorescent microscale particles in the shapes of all 26 letters of the alphabet have been designed and produced in the lab. The letters are made of solid polymeric materials dispersed in a liquid solution, and the scientists who created them anticipate that their "lithoparticles" will have significant technological, medical and scientific uses.TinyUCLA.jpg
UCLA professor Thomas G. Mason and chemistry graduate student Carlos J. Hernandez mass-produced microscale particles shaped like each letter of the alphabet. Graduate student James Wilking used "laser tweezers" to pick up the letters 'U, C, L, A' and move them in order "like skywriting in solution." (Image: James N. Wilking/Thomas G. Mason, UCLA Chemistry)
"We have demonstrated the power of a new method, at the microscale, to create objects of precisely designed shapes that are highly uniform in size," said Thomas G. Mason, UCLA associate professor of chemistry and a member of the university's California NanoSystems Institute. "They are too small to see with the unaided eye, but with an optical microscope, you can see them clearly; the letters stand out in high fidelity. Our approach also works into the nanoscale."

Chemistry graduate student Carlos J. Hernandez designed a customized font for the letters and produced them. "We can even choose the font style; if we wanted Times New Roman, we could produce that," Mason said.

Hernandez and Mason have also produced particles with different geometric shapes, such as triangles, crosses and doughnuts, as well as 3-D "Janus particles," which have two differently shaped faces. The research is scheduled to be featured on the cover of the March 29 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C; Mason is study co-author and Hernandez is lead author.

"We have made fluorescent lithographic particles, we have made complex three-dimensional shapes and, as shown by UCLA postdoctoral fellow Kun Zhao, we can assemble these particles, for example, in a lock-and-key relationship," said Mason, whose research combines aspects of chemistry, physics, engineering and biology. "We can mass-produce complex parts having different controlled shapes at a scale much smaller than scientists have been able to produce previously. We have a high degree of control over the parts that we make and are on the verge of making functional devices in solution. We may later be able to configure the parts into more complex and useful assemblies.

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"How can we control and direct the assembly of tiny components to make a machine that works? Can we cause the components to fit together in a controlled way that may be useful to us? Can we create useful complex structures out of fundamental parts, in solution, where we can mass-produce a small-scale engine, for example? We will pursue these research questions," Mason said.

In the early 1990s, Mason founded a field called "thermal microrheology," the techniques of which are now used by scientists worldwide. Microrheology is a method for examining the viscosity and elasticity of soft materials, including liquids, polymers and emulsions, on a microscopic scale. Mason and Hernandez's research in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C provides novel probes for microrheology.MicroscopicAlphabet.jpg
A "colloidal alphabet soup" created by billions of alphabet-shaped fluorescent microscale particles designed and mass-produced by UCLA's Mason and Hernandez.  (Image: Carlos J. Hernandez/Thomas G. Mason, UCLA Chemistry)
Because each letter is smaller than many kinds of cells, possible applications include marking individual cells with particular letters. It may be possible, Mason said, to use a molecule to attach a letter to a cell's surface or perhaps even insert a letter inside a cell and use the letter-marker to identify the cell. The research also could lead to the creation of tiny pumps, motors or containers that could have medical, as well as security, applications.

In addition to creating the letters, Mason's research group can pick them up and reposition and reorient them in a microscale version of the game Scrabble.

"We have used 'laser tweezers' to pick up the jumbled letters 'U, C, L, A' and move them together in order, like skywriting in solution," Mason said. UCLA chemistry graduate student James Wilking moved the letters to spell "UCLA."

Mason's research is funded in part by the National Science Foundation. He also receives support from UCLA's John McTague Career Development Chair, which provides research funding for five years. UCLA has applied for a patent on the technology.

For more information, visit: www.ucla.edu

Published: March 2007
Glossary
cell
1. A single unit in a device for changing radiant energy to electrical energy or for controlling current flow in a circuit. 2. A single unit in a device whose resistance varies with radiant energy. 3. A single unit of a battery, primary or secondary, for converting chemical energy into electrical energy. 4. A simple unit of storage in a computer. 5. A limited region of space. 6. Part of a lens barrel holding one or more lenses.
microscopic
Characteristic of an object so small in size or so fine in structure that it cannot be seen by the unaided eye. A microscopic object may be rendered visible when examined under a microscope.
nano
An SI prefix meaning one billionth (10-9). Nano can also be used to indicate the study of atoms, molecules and other structures and particles on the nanometer scale. Nano-optics (also referred to as nanophotonics), for example, is the study of how light and light-matter interactions behave on the nanometer scale. See nanophotonics.
photonics
The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
Basic ScienceBiophotonicsCalifornia NanoSystems InstituteCelldefensefluorescentHernandezindustriallithgraphiclithoparticleMasonmicrorheologymicroscalemicroscopicMicroscopynanoNews & FeaturesparticlephotonicspolymericScrabbletweezerUCLALasers

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