Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol.397, 80-87, 2013
A facile strategy to colloidal crystals by drying condensed suspension droplets
Drying condensed colloid suspension droplet on a horizontal glass substrate has been developed as a simple strategy to fabricate highly-ordered colloidal crystals. A uniform film obtained at above room temperature possessed a face-center-cubic (fcc) crystalline structure and excellent photonic properties. It was found that raising the drying temperature has resulted in a reduction in the lattice spacing of fcc colloidal crystals. The formation reason of uniform fcc colloidal crystals was directly related to the high drying temperature and the large colloid concentration. A ring-shaped stain generated by drying at room temperature has exhibited other highly-ordered microstructures with colloidal crystals, such as body center cubic (bcc) structure. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Colloidal crystals;Polystyrene colloids;Uniform deposition;Drying suspension droplet;Self-assembly