0000000000378835
AUTHOR
Alexander Reinmüller
Charged colloidal model systems under confinement in slit geometry: a new setup for optical microscopic studies.
A new experimental setup for optical microscopic studies of charged colloidal model systems under confinement between two flat walls is presented. The measurement cell consists of optically flat quartz substrates attached to piezo actuators. Those facilitate fast and flexible adjustment of the confining geometry. Optionally, the local cell height can be quantitatively controlled by in situ interferometric measurements. Proper choice of materials guarantees sufficient chemical inertia against contamination with salt ions. For efficient preparation of charged colloidal suspensions under strongly deionized conditions, the cell can be connected to a conventional pump circuit including a mixed b…
Assembly and Speed in Ion-Exchange-Based Modular Phoretic Microswimmers.
We report an experimental study on ion-exchange-based modular microswimmers in low-salt water. Cationic ion-exchange particles and passive cargo particles assemble into self-propelling complexes, showing self-propulsion at speeds of several micrometers per second over extended distances and times. We quantify the assembly and speed of the complexes for different combinations of ion-exchange particles and cargo particles, substrate types, salt types and concentrations, and cell geometries. Irrespective of the experimental boundary conditions, we observe a regular development of the assembly shape with increasing number of cargo. Moreover, the swimming speed increases stepwise upon increasing…
Transient Moiré rotation patterns in thin colloidal crystals
A high resolution optical microscopy study on low salt charged sphere suspensions settling under gravity reveals the formation of AB-stacked triangular layers via different transient structures. In particular, metastable triangular Moire rotation patterns (formally corresponding to 1 × 1 Rα super structures) with rotation angles α = 27.8° and α = 38.2° are identified.
Controlled assembly of single colloidal crystals using electro-osmotic micro-pumps.
We assemble charged colloidal spheres at deliberately chosen locations on a charged unstructured glass substrate utilizing ion exchange based electro-osmotic micro-pumps. Using microscopy, a simple scaling theory and Brownian Dynamics simulations, we systematically explore the control parameters of crystal assembly and the mechanisms through which they depend on the experimental boundary conditions. We demonstrate that crystal quality depends crucially on the assembly distance of the colloids. This is understood as resulting from the competition between inward transport by the electro-osmotic pump flow and the electro-phoretic outward motion of the colloids. Optimized conditions include sub…
Crystalline multilayers of charged colloids in soft confinement: experiment versus theory.
We combine real-space experiments and lattice sum calculations to investigate the phase diagram of charged colloidal particles under soft confinement. In the experiments we explore the equilibrium phase diagram of charged colloidal spheres in aqueous suspensions confined between two parallel charged walls at low background salt concentrations. Motivated by the experiments, we perform lattice sum minimizations to predict the crystalline ground state of point-like Yukawa particles which are exposed to a soft confining wall potential. In the multilayered crystalline regime, we obtain good agreement between the experimental and numerical findings: upon increasing the density we recover the sequ…
Colloidal crystallization in the quasi-two-dimensional induced by electrolyte gradients.
We investigated driven crystal formation events in thin layers of sedimented colloidal particles under low salt conditions. Using optical microscopy, we observe particles in a thermodynamically stable colloidal fluid to move radially converging towards cation exchange resin fragments acting as seed particles. When the local particle concentration has become sufficiently large, subsequently crystallization occurs. Brownian dynamics simulations of a 2D system of purely repulsive point-like particles exposed to an attractive potential, yield strikingly similar scenarios, and kinetics of accumulation and micro-structure formation. This offers the possibility of flexibly designing and manufactur…