Controlled assembly of single colloidal crystals using electro-osmotic micro-pumps.

2017

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…