title: Fabrication of a 3-dimensional nanostructured binary colloidal crystal within a confined channel.
abstract: The reproducible fabrication of nanostructured 3Dimensional (3D) binary colloidal crystal (bCC) in a defined geometric space through a simple one step process is detailed. This method allows for the potential fabrication of a bCC in a sealed μchip within a defined area or channel by capillary forces, unlike other bCC formation methods such as dip-drawing, where the substrate must be submerged in a suspension to form a bCC, or bCC monolayers, which are fabricated at the water air interface. Through simple variation in volume fraction ratio (VF(S/L)) of nano-(denoted small, S) and macro-sized (denoted large, L) polystyrene (PS) spheres and diameter size ratio (D(S/L)), the manipulation of bCC structures was also achieved. Variation of nano-sized PS sphere number within the interstitial voids formed between neighbouring macro-sized spheres enabled the reproducible fabrication of LS2 and LS6 structures, which contain 1 and 3 nano-spheres respectively in each interstitial void. It must be noted that while VF(S/L) allows for control of the final LSn structure, thickness of bCC formation in this manner is independent of VFS/L.
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. Electronic address: brian.gorey2@mail.dcu.ie.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gorey
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. Electronic address: Malcolm.Smyth@dcu.ie.
authors.forename: Malcolm R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. Electronic address: Aoife.Morrin@dcu.ie.
authors.forename: Aoife
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morrin
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Sensor Research, School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland. Electronic address: Blanaid.White@dcu.ie.
authors.forename: Blánaid
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003460:Crystallization; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D049329:Nanostructures; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids
keywords: Binary colloidal crystal; Capillary packing; Microfluidic channel; Nanostructured; Polystyrene