Fabrication of Centimeter-Sized Single-Domain Two-Dimensional Colloidal Crystals in a Wedge-Shaped Cell under Capillary Forces

Abstract

Self-assembly of colloidal spheres confined within cells of different shapes formed with two slides under capillary forces are studied. It is found that by controlling the shape of the cell the curvature of the drying front can result in a significant effect on the self-organization process. A curved drying front formed within parallel slides is always associated with growth of colloidal crystal structures with a high density of disorder. We demonstrate that single-domain two-dimensional colloidal crystals with centimeter size can be grown under capillary forces under a straight drying front formed in a wedge-shaped cell. These findings are demonstrated by laser diffraction, microscopy imaging methods and off-normal optical transmission measurements. The present growth method should be of importance in expanding colloidal crystal applications in angle-resolved nanosphere lithography, as well as in preparation of high-quality quasi-three-dimensional plasmonic crystals.

A stretch-tunable plasmonic structure with a polarization-dependent response

“…In the first step, a monolayer hexagonal-close-packed array of monodisperse polystyrene (PS) spheres with a diameter of 1500 nm (size dispersion 2%) was formed on a pre-treated silicon surface by a self-assembly method [17]. After that, a 35-nm-thick gold film was deposited on the monolayer array of PS spheres by E-beam evaporation.…”

Nanoarchitectonics of a Au nanoprism array on WO3film for synergistic optoelectronic response

“…Polyvinylpyrrolidone was added to assist the assembly of the PS spheres into a close-packed array [43]. A single-layer template of two-dimensional PS sphere array was fabricated on the WO 3 film using the capillary-force-induced convective self-assembly method in a wedged-shaped cell [44]. As shown in figure 2(a), the cell consisted of a glass slide (top) and the as-prepared WO 3 film (bottom) inclined at an angle of 2…”

Broadband enhancement of spontaneous emission in a photonic-plasmonic structure

“…Figure 1(a) schematically illustrates the fabrication process of the photonic-plasmonic structure with fluorescent bulk heterojunction (BHJ) materials. First, a monolayer hexagonal-close-packed array of monodisperse PS spheres with a diameter of 600 nm (size dispersion 1%) was formed on a pretreated glass surface by a self-assembly method [12]. Second, a 50 nm thick gold film was deposited on the monolayer array of PS spheres by thermal evaporation.…”