The colloidal soft matter group of Janne-Mieke Meijer focuses on complex colloids and their self-assembly to understand how building block properties, interactions and overall assembly kinetics influence superstructures that form. The group combines quantitative real-space microscopy investigations with light and x-ray scattering techniques to obtain unique insights into the underlying microscopic structure, physical mechanisms and dynamics of colloidal self-assembly from a single-particle to a bulk material level. The ultimate goal of our research is to control the spontaneous self-organization of colloids to develop new materials with unique mechanical, optical, or electronic properties.

The ultimate goal of our research is to control the spontaneous self-organization of colloids to develop new materials with unique mechanical, optical, or electronic properties

Our research focusses on the spontaneous assembly of colloidal particles into larger superstructures. Colloidal particles are small particles with one of their dimensions in the range of 1-1000 nm. When dispersed in a liquid these particles show thermal (Brownian) motion. Due to this motion the properties of colloidal dispersions are similar to molecular systems and exhibit diffusion, gas-liquid condensation and crystallization. Due to the larger size of colloids, the length and time scales of the structural dynamics are easily observable on single particle levels using optical microscopy and allows us to gain direct insight into different self-assembly processes. Today, thanks to advances in synthesis the shape and interaction potential of the colloidal particles can now be tuned with extreme precision, making colloids as complex as their molecular counterparts! Their availability opens up the possibility to study assembly processes of complex particles on a single particle level and allows us to learn how different aspects of the building blocks influence the self-assembly process. ​