Layer-by-layer growth of multicomponent colloidal crystals over large areas

Search Swinburne Research Bank

Kingshott, Peter

Home

List of Titles

Layer-by-layer growth of multicomponent colloidal crystals over large areas

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/198859

Check Swinburne's subscriptions for full text availability

Title: Layer-by-layer growth of multicomponent colloidal crystals over large areas
Author(s): Singh, Gurvinder; Pillai, Saju; Arpanaei, Ayyoob; Kingshott, Peter
Abstract: Self-assembly of different sized colloidal particles into multicomponent crystals results in novel material properties compared to the properties of the individual components alone. The formation of binary and, for the first time, ternary colloidal crystals through a simple and inexpensive confined-area evaporation-induced layer-by-layer (LBL) assembly method is reported. The proposed method produces high quality multicomponent colloidal crystal films over a broad range of particle size-ratios and large surface areas (cm 2) from silica/polystyrene colloidal suspensions of low concentration. By adjusting the size-ratio and concentration of the colloidal particles, complex crystals of tunable stoichiometries are fabricated and their structural characteristics are further confirmed with reported crystal analogues. In addition, complex structures form as a result of the interplay of the template layer effect, the surface forces exerted by the meniscus of the drying liquid, the space filling principle, and entropic forces. Thus, this LBL approach is a versatile way to grow colloidal crystals with binary, ternary, or more complex structures. Evaporation driven layer-by-layer self-assembly of different sized colloidal particles yields a variety of well-ordered binary and ternary colloidal crystals depending on the size ratio and volume fraction of the small particles in the suspension. These complex crystals can be grown reproducibly to over a centimeter length scale.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences. Industrial Research Institute Swinburne
Source: Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 21, no. 13 (Jul 2011), pp. 2556-2563
Publication year: 2011
FOR Code(s): 0303 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry; 0904 Chemical Engineering; 0912 Materials Engineering
Keyword(s): Binary crystals; Colloidal self-assembly; Evaporation; Patterning; Ternary crystals
Publisher: WILEY-VCH Verlag
ISSN: 1616-301X
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201002716
Peer reviewed