Colloidal Crystal Thin Films Grown into Corrugated Surface Templates

F. Ramiro-Manzano; E. Bonet; I. Rodriguez; F. Meseguer

doi:10.1021/la904396m

Research · Publication & note

Colloidal Crystal Thin Films Grown into Corrugated Surface Templates

Journal article

F. Ramiro-Manzano, E. Bonet, I. Rodriguez and F. Meseguer

Langmuir Volume 26 Issue 7 4559-4562 2010

Abstract

The influence of patterned surfaces on the formation of one- and two-dimensional colloidal crystals is analyzed. We have used the corrugated surface of a digital versatile disc (DVD) for template surface processing. When the sphere diameter is on the order of the groove width of patterned substrates, a rich variety of particle decorations appear. However, if particle size is much larger than template patterns, large domains of particle ordering are formed.

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Article access and reuse

The published article is available from ACS Publications. ACS permits authors to reuse their own figures on personal or institutional websites for non-commercial purposes when the published article is properly cited. The five figures below were extracted as complete compositions from the local article PDF and have not been enlarged or modified.

Figures

Figure 1. SEM image of a DVD-type template and AFM image of the corrugated surface with its profile parameters.

From F. Ramiro-Manzano et al., Langmuir 26(7), 4559-4562 (2010), DOI 10.1021/la904396m. Reproduced by the authors under ACS author reuse rights.

Complete Figure 2 SEM composition showing parallel particle rows, a linear row and a two-row strip — **Figure 2.** SEM images of parallel particle rows, a linear row of spheres and a strip composed of two rows.

Figure 3. SEM images and side and top views of particle-ordering models as the cell thickness increases. — **Figure 3.** SEM images and side and top views of particle-ordering models as the cell thickness increases.

Figure 4. SEM images, schemes and complementary views of particle-ordering models. — **Figure 4.** SEM images, schemes and complementary views of particle orderings formed as the cell thickness increases.

Complete Figure 5 SEM composition showing large colloidal particles ordered on the corrugated template — **Figure 5.** SEM images of 770 nm particles, larger than the groove width, attached to the corrugated template.

Research fields

Bottom-up

Colloidal spheres crystallise in wedge cells whose confining plate carries the spiral groove pattern replicated from a recordable disc. The corrugation directs rows, strips and multilayer arrangements that do not appear on a flat substrate.

Simulations & fits

Sphere-packing models reconstruct how successive layers occupy grooves and lands as the local cell thickness increases. The geometrical comparison explains the observed transitions between linear chains, offset rows and extended three-dimensional order.

Characterization

AFM measures the template profile and SEM records both surface and edge views of the assembled particles. Registering these images with the groove direction establishes which structures are imposed by the substrate and which arise from confinement alone.

RESEARCH TOPICS

InterferenceThe periodic grooves of a commercial DVD act as a one-dimensional template whose width competes with particle diameter. When both length scales are comparable, the substrate imposes rows, buckled arrangements and the “LATRIX” pattern rather than the sequence found in a smooth wedge. When 770 nm particles are much larger than the grooves, the corrugation becomes a weaker perturbation and extended buckling, triangular and HCP(100) domains reappear. The observed order is therefore an interference between two geometric periodicities: colloid packing and substrate relief.

MaterialsThe work replaces expensive lithographic masters with the corrugated polycarbonate surface of a DVD and examines how nearly hard polystyrene spheres crystallise on it. SEM images show that small particles decorate individual grooves in one- and two-dimensional arrangements, while larger particles average over the pattern and preserve long-range order despite local size-dispersion defects. Figure 5 demonstrates domains extending over large areas. The result provides a low-cost route to templated colloidal films and identifies the particle-to-groove ratio as the controlling design parameter.