Langmuir, Vol.21, No.25, 11588-11591, 2005
Formation of spatially patterned colloidal photonic crystals through the control of capillary forces and template recognition
We report the formation of microscopic patterns of substrate-supported, 3D planar colloidal crystals using physical confinement in conjunction with surfaces displaying predetermined binary patterns of hydropholicity. The formation process involves a primary self-assembly wherein nano- and microscale colloids order into a photonic fee lattice via capillary interactions followed by a secondary template-induced crystal cleavage step. Following this method, arbitrary arrays of pattern elements, which preserve structural and orientational properties of the parent crystal, can be easily obtained.