Colloids are complex mixtures in which microscopic
particles of one substance are suspended evenly throughout another.
They can be prepared in many different ways, but to achieve
desirable properties in the final mixture, researchers must
maintain a delicate control over the interactions which take place
between the particles. In new research published in The European
Physical Journal E, a team led by Remco Tuinier at the Eindhoven
University of Technology in the Netherlands demonstrate this level
of control for a type of colloid in which the suspended particles
take the form of hollow, nanoscale cubes—a case which has only
previously been explored through theoretical
calculations.