title: Self-assembly of colloidal cubes via vertical deposition.
abstract: The vertical deposition technique for creating crystalline microstructures is applied for the first time to nonspherical colloids in the form of hollow silica cubes. Controlled deposition of the cubes results in large crystalline films with variable symmetry. The microstructures are characterized in detail with scanning electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering. In single layers of cubes, distorted square to hexagonal ordered arrays are formed. For multilayered crystals, the intralayer ordering is predominantly hexagonal with a hollow site stacking, similar to that of the face centered cubic lattice for spheres. Additionally, a distorted square arrangement in the layers is also found to form under certain conditions. These crystalline films are promising for various applications such as photonic materials.
authors.affiliation: Van 't Hoff Laboratory for Physical and Colloid Chemistry, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. J.Meijer1@uu.nl
authors.forename: Janne-Mieke
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hagemans
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Dmytro V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Byelov
authors.forename: Sonja I R
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: Anatoly
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Snigirev
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Snigireva
authors.forename: Albert P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Philipse
authors.forename: Andrei V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Petukhov