This Letter reports the measurement of electro-osmotic flows (EOF) in microchannels with surface charge patterned on the $200\mu \mathrm{m}$ scale. We have investigated two classes of patterns: (1) Those in which the surface charge varies along a direction perpendicular to the electric field used to drive the EOF; this type of pattern generates multidirectional flow along the direction of the field. (2) Those in which the surface charge pattern varies parallel to the field; this pattern generates recirculating cellular flow, and thus causes motion both parallel and perpendicular to the external field. Measurements of both of these flows agree well with theory in the limit of thin double layers and low surface potential.

DNA-coated colloids hold great promise for self-assembly of programmed heterogeneous microstructures, provided they not only bind when cooled below their melting temperature, but also rearrange so that aggregated particles can anneal into the structure that minimizes the free energy. Unfortunately, DNA-coated colloids generally collide and stick forming kinetically arrested random aggregates when the thickness of the DNA coating is much smaller than the particles. Here we report DNA-coated colloids that can rearrange and anneal, thus enabling the growth of large colloidal crystals from a wide range of micrometre-sized DNA-coated colloids for the first time. The kinetics of aggregation, crystallization and defect formation are followed in real time. The crystallization rate exhibits the familiar maximum for intermediate temperature quenches observed in metallic alloys, but over a temperature range smaller by two orders of magnitude, owing to the highly temperature-sensitive diffusion between aggregated DNA-coated colloids.

Side-chain functionalized polymers have a profound impact on complex materials synthesis with a variety of applications ranging from liquid crystalline and electro-optical materials to drug delivery systems. In the last decade, the use of self-assembly towards the synthesis of side-chain functionalized polymers has been investigated extensively as a result of its modular character and ease of synthesis. This tutorial review describes recent advances in the literature and establishes basic design principles and synthetic approaches towards the fabrication of supramolecular materials that are based on side-chain functionalized polymers.