Materials Science and Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Nat Commun. 2019 Dec 12;10(1):5672. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13676-3.
Constructing colloidal particles into functional nanostructures, materials, and devices is a promising yet challenging direction. Many optical techniques have been developed to trap, manipulate, assemble, and print colloidal particles from aqueous solutions into desired configurations on solid substrates. However, these techniques operated in liquid environments generally suffer from pattern collapses, Brownian motion, and challenges that come with reconfigurable assembly. Here, we develop an all-optical technique, termed optothermally-gated photon nudging (OPN), for the versatile manipulation and dynamic patterning of a variety of colloidal particles on a solid substrate at nanoscale accuracy. OPN takes advantage of a thin surfactant layer to optothermally modulate the particle-substrate interaction, which enables the manipulation of colloidal particles on solid substrates with optical scattering force. Along with in situ optical spectroscopy, our non-invasive and contactless nanomanipulation technique will find various applications in nanofabrication, nanophotonics, nanoelectronics, and colloidal sciences.
将胶体粒子构建成功能纳米结构、材料和器件是一个很有前途但具有挑战性的方向。已经开发出许多光学技术来从水溶液中捕获、操纵、组装和打印胶体粒子，并将其在固体基底上打印成所需的图案。然而，这些在液体环境中操作的技术通常会受到图案坍塌、布朗运动以及可重构组装带来的挑战的影响。在这里，我们开发了一种全光学技术，称为光热门控光子推动（OPN），用于在纳米级精度上对固体基底上的各种胶体粒子进行多功能操纵和动态图案化。OPN 利用一层薄的表面活性剂层来光热调节粒子-基底相互作用，从而能够用光散射力在固体基底上操纵胶体粒子。结合原位光学光谱学，我们的非侵入式和非接触式纳米操纵技术将在纳米制造、纳米光子学、纳米电子学和胶体科学中找到各种应用。
