Search results for "colloidal crystal"
showing 10 items of 60 documents
2D photonic defect layers in 3D inverted opals on Si platforms
2006
Dielectric spheres synthesised for the fabrication of self-organized photonic crystals such as opals offer large opportunities for the design of novel nanophotonic devices. In this paper, we show a hexagonal superlattice monolayer of dielectric spheres inscribed on a 3D colloidal photonic crystal by e-beam lithography. The crystal is produced by a variation of the vertical drawing deposition method assisted by an acoustic field. The structures were chosen after simulations showed that a hexagonal super-lattice monolayer in air exhibits an even photonic band gap below the light cone if the refractive index of the spheres is higher than 1.93.
Template-Free Supracolloidal Self-Assembly of Atomically Precise Gold Nanoclusters : From 2D Colloidal Crystals to Spherical Capsids
2016
We report supracolloidal self-assembly of atomically precise and strictly monodisperse gold nanoclusters involving p-mercaptobenzoic acid ligands (Au102-pMBA44) under aqueous conditions into hexagonally packed monolayer-thick two-dimensional facetted colloidal crystals (thickness 2.7 nm) and their bending to closed shells leading to spherical capsids (d ca. 200 nm), as controlled by solvent conditions. The 2D colloidal assembly is driven in template-free manner by the spontaneous patchiness of the pMBA ligands around the Au102-pMBA44 nanoclusters preferably towards equatorial plane, thus promoting inter-nanocluster hydrogen bonds and high packing to planar sheets. More generally, the findin…
Sheared colloidal crystals in confined geometry: a real space study on stationary structures under shear.
2003
We constructed an optical plate-plate shear cell suitable for the study of aqueous suspensions of charged colloidal spheres under low electrolyte concentrations (10(-6) M). The variable gap height was adjusted to 30 microm corresponding to 15-30 interparticle distances. The concentration of 300 microm diameter polystyrene spheres was chosen around 1 microm(-1) where previous studies had revealed the equilibrium structure to be fluid or body centred cubic. Under shear, layer structures of hexagonal symmetry form, often coexistent with a fluid phase. We used an adapted high resolution video microscope to perform a detailed study of the structure. The central ray of light was prevented from en…
Motion, relaxation dynamics, and diffusion processes in two-dimensional colloidal crystals confined between walls
2012
The dynamical behavior of single-component two-dimensional colloidal crystals confined in a slit geometry is studied by Langevin dynamics simulation of a simple model. The colloids are modeled as pointlike particles, interacting with the repulsive part of the Lennard-Jones potential, and the fluid molecules in the colloidal suspension are not explicitly considered. Considering a crystalline strip of triangular lattice structure with n=30 rows, the (one-dimensional) walls confining the strip are chosen as two rigidly fixed crystalline rows at each side, commensurate with the lattice structure and, thus, stabilizing long-range order. The case when the spacing between the walls is incommensura…
Langevin dynamics simulations of a two-dimensional colloidal crystal under confinement and shear
2012
Langevin dynamics simulations are used to study the effect of shear on a two-dimensional colloidal crystal (with implicit solvent) confined by structured parallel walls. When walls are sheared very slowly, only two or three crystalline layers next to the walls move along with them, while the inner layers of the crystal are only slightly tilted. At higher shear velocities, this inner part of the crystal breaks into several pieces with different orientations. The velocity profile across the slit is reminiscent of shear banding in flowing soft materials, where liquid and solid regions coexist; the difference, however, is that in the latter case the solid regions are glassy while here they are …
Nucleation and crystal growth in a suspension of charged colloidal silica spheres with bi-modal size distribution studied by time-resolved ultra-smal…
2014
A suspension of charged colloidal silica spheres exhibiting a bi-modal size distribution of particles, thereby mimicking a binary mixture, was studied using time-resolved ultra-small-angle synchrotron X-ray scattering (USAXS). The sample, consisting of particles of diameters d(A) = (104.7 ± 9.0) nm and d(B) = (88.1 ± 7.8) nm (d(A)/d(B) ≈ 1.2), and with an estimated composition A(0.6(1))B(0.4(1)), was studied with respect to its phase behaviour in dependance of particle number density and interaction, of which the latter was modulated by varying amounts of added base (NaOH). Moreover, its short-range order in the fluid state and its eventual solidification into a long-range ordered colloidal…
Crystal growth kinetics in binary mixtures of model charged sphere colloids
2007
From the formation of crystalline materials from their melts is at the heat of many important industrial processes. A rigorous and comprehensive understanding of the crystallization process, however, is still lacking, and its experimental and theoretical investigation has remained a considerable challenge. We studied the crystal growth velocities v of random composition body centred cubic (rc-bcc) colloidal crystals formed from a shear molten binary mixture of charged colloidal spheres suspended in deionized water. We used Bragg microscopy at constant particle number density n and as a function of the number fraction of large particles p. With increasing p the growth velocity v first drops …
Stick-slip motion and plastic flow of a two-dimensional colloidal crystal confined to moving corrugated rigid boundaries
2013
Computer simulations are presented where a model for a two-dimensional colloidal crystal confined to corrugated walls is exposed to a steady-state shear deformation. Following up on an earlier study, where average velocity profiles of the particles in the crystal across the slit have been obtained, we now analyse the time dependence of the particle motions and of the resulting shear forces. We discuss the extent to which the resulting irregular and damped oscillatory motions can be associated with stick-slip motions familiar from friction phenomena.
Drude-type conductivity of charged sphere colloidal crystals: Density and temperature dependence
2005
We report on extensive measurements in the low-frequency limit of the ac conductivity of colloidal fluids and crystals formed from charged colloidal spheres suspended in de-ionized water. Temperature was varied in a range of 5 degrees CTheta35 degrees C and the particle number density n between 0.2 and 25 microm(-3) for the larger, respectively, 2.75 and 210 microm(-3) for the smaller of two investigated species. At fixed Theta the conductivity increased linearly with increasing n without any significant change at the fluid-solid phase boundary. At fixed n it increased with increasing Theta and the increase was more pronounced for larger n. Lacking a rigorous electrohydrodynamic treatment f…
Phase behaviour of binary mixtures of colloidal charged spheres
2008
Abstract As a step towards the modelling of binary metal alloys we here report on the shape of the phase boundary of two deionized charged sphere colloidal suspensions as a function of mixing ratio and particle density. Their size ratios are r = 0.68 and r = 0.56. Both aqueous suspensions of polystyrene copolymer spheres crystallize in a body-centred cubic structure. Interesting differences in the shape of the phase boundary are observed. In the first case a peaked increase of crystal stability was observed for a mixing ratio of p = 0.2–0.3, which gives the fraction of small spheres. Also in the second case the stability of the crystalline phase is larger than expected for an ideal solid so…