Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Langmuir. 2013 Apr 23;29(16):4966-73. doi: 10.1021/la400662n. Epub 2013 Apr 11.
Evaporative lithography using latex particle templates is a novel approach for the self-assembly of suspension-dispersed nanoparticles into ordered microwire networks. The phenomenon that drives the self-assembly process is the propagation of a network of interconnected liquid bridges between the template particles and the underlying substrate. With the aid of video microscopy, we demonstrate that these liquid bridges are in fact the border zone between the underlying substrate and foam films vertical to the substrate, which are formed during the evaporation of the liquid from the suspension. The stability of the foam films and thus the liquid bridge network stability are due to the presence of a small amount of surfactant in the evaporating solution. We show that the same type of foam-film-stabilized liquid bridge network can also propagate in 3D clusters of spherical particles, which has important implications for the understanding of wet granular matter.
使用乳胶粒子模板的蒸发光刻技术是一种将悬浮分散的纳米粒子自组装成有序的微丝网络的新方法。驱动自组装过程的现象是模板粒子和基底之间的互联液相桥网络的传播。借助视频显微镜，我们证明这些液相桥实际上是在悬浮液蒸发过程中形成的，位于基底和垂直于基底的泡沫膜之间的边界区域。泡沫膜的稳定性以及因此液相桥网络的稳定性归因于蒸发溶液中存在少量表面活性剂。我们表明，同样类型的泡沫膜稳定的液相桥网络也可以在球形粒子的 3D 簇中传播，这对理解湿颗粒物质具有重要意义。
