Soft Condensed Matter, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Langmuir. 2010 Sep 21;26(18):14466-71. doi: 10.1021/la102134w.
We demonstrate the assembly of colloidal particles with the shape of diatomic molecules ("dumbbells") into crystals that we study with confocal microscopy. The literature on the preparation of nonspherical colloidal particles has grown steadily. Assembly of these particles into regular three-dimensional crystalline lattices, however, is rarely, if ever, achieved and has not yet been studied quantitatively in 3D real space. We find that, by application of an electric field, such particles assemble quite readily. By varying the particle aspect ratio, range of interactions, and electric field strength, we find several different crystal structures of which three have never before been observed. Moreover, the electric field can be used to switch between different structures and manipulate/switch the photonic properties. Moreover, our work sheds light on fundamental questions related to the self-assembly of nonspherical particles.
我们展示了具有双原子分子（“哑铃”）形状的胶体粒子组装成晶体，并用共聚焦显微镜对其进行研究。关于制备非球形胶体粒子的文献一直在稳步增长。然而，将这些粒子组装成规则的三维晶体格子却很少实现，在 3D 真空间也尚未得到定量研究。我们发现，通过施加电场，这些粒子很容易组装。通过改变粒子的纵横比、相互作用范围和电场强度，我们发现了几种以前从未观察到的不同晶体结构。此外，电场可以用于在不同结构之间切换，并操纵/切换光子特性。此外，我们的工作为与非球形粒子自组装相关的基本问题提供了线索。
