corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 85 » Issue 8
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1770–1773 (2000)

Entropically Driven Colloidal Crystallization on Patterned Surfaces

Download: PDF (294 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Keng-hui Lin1, John C. Crocker1,*, Vikram Prasad1,†, Andrew Schofield2, D. A. Weitz1,‡, T. C. Lubensky1, and A. G. Yodh1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6396
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom EH9 3JZ

Received 14 March 2000; published in the issue dated 21 August 2000

We investigate the self-assembly of colloidal spheres on periodically patterned templates. The surface potentials and the surface phases are induced entropically by the presence of dissolved, nonadsorbing polymers. A rich variety of two-dimensional fluidlike and solidlike phases was observed to form on template potentials with both one- and two-dimensional symmetry. The same methodology was then used to nucleate an oriented single fcc crystal more than 30 layers thick. The general approach provides a new route for directed self-assembly of novel mesoscopic structures.

© 2000 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.1770
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.1770
PACS:
82.70.Dd, 05.20.-y, 61.25.Hq

*Present address: Applied Physics Department, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.

†Present address: Physics Department and DEAS, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.

‡Present address: Physics Department and DEAS, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >