Fig. 3: Dynamic structural evolution of coacervate droplets.

a Schematic illustration of the structural evolution of coacervate droplets, showing approximately five periods including growth, deformation, elongation, plateau and decubation periods. b Time-dependent images of coacervates illuminated by 365 nm (20 W) for 3.5 h, showing that the coacervates transform into coacervate vesicles due to an increase in the concentration of PDMAEMA. c Plots of the length of multi-compartmental coacervates, width of multi-compartmental coacervates and diameter of sub-compartments. d Time-dependent aspect ratio of multi-compartmental coacervates. Aspect ratio = length of coacervate/width of coacervate. There are 19 data points reflecting the growth and fusion of internal sub-compartments. e Time-dependent CLSM images of coacervate vesicles, showing that vesicles spontaneously transform back into coacervates, (RBITC, red). f CLSM image of restored coacervates in (e) showing the sequestration of calcein. g Schematic illustration of external phase reconfigurations of coacervates. Generally, coacervate solution (HA/PDDA/BSA/DMAEMA) after polymerization under 405 nm for 6 h (10 μL) is mixed with NaCl solution of different concentrations (190 μL). h Typical turbidity of the coacervate polymerization solution after adding NaCl solution (10% w/v monomer content as a corresponding example shown in j). i Turbidity of the coacervate polymerization solution with different monomer contents. j Corresponding typical structural transformation of coacervates in (h). k NaCl-dependent CLSM images of reconstructed coacervates (15% w/v), (HA-AF, green), (Nile red, red). Scale bars, 5 μm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.