Multidirectional, Multicomponent Electric Field Driven Assembly of Complex Colloidal Chains
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Bhuvnesh Bharti
Abstract
External fields (magnetic and electric) present a simple, robust and efficient route to manipulate and assemble colloidal particles. We report how biparticle dispersions can be assembled into well-defined arrays of tunable morphology using external AC electric field. Binary dispersions of strongly and weakly charged colloidal particles were arranged into linear composite chains via dipole-dipole attraction. The frequency of the applied electric field was the first control parameter for reversibly tuning the biparticle attraction from longitudinal assembly (in the direction of field) to the traverse one (perpendicular to the field). We show that in addition to frequency, spatial limitations play a key role in the assembly process and may assist in the formation of short bidirectional chain-like clusters or characteristic highly structured strings of colloidal triplets. Thus, we control the long-range organization through a combination of particle size ratio, concentration ratio and field frequency. The new strategy to reconfigure the microstructures can find application in better control of the field driven colloidal assembly processes and may be extended to the formation of more complex and precisely arranged particle networks.
Acknowledgement
The financial support by the Research Triangle NSF MRSEC on Programmable Soft Matter (DMR-1121107) is gratefully acknowledged. We are thankful to Shan Zhu for assistance with the preparatory work on these systems.
©2015 Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Preface
- Gerhard Findenegg: A Scientific Life in Soft Matter at Interfaces
- Nanoparticles via Oil-in-Water Microemulsions: a Solvent-Reduced, Energy-Efficient Approach
- Formation of Anisometric Fumed Silica Supraparticles – Mechanism and Application Potential
- Multidirectional, Multicomponent Electric Field Driven Assembly of Complex Colloidal Chains
- Polymer Brush/Metal Nanoparticle Hybrids for Optical Sensor Applications: from Self-Assembly to Tailored Functions and Nanoengineering
- Poly-acrylic Acid Brushes and Adsorbed Proteins
- Interactions of Two Fragments of the Human Antimicrobial Peptide LL-37 with Zwitterionic and Anionic Lipid Monolayers
- Depletion Interaction Mediated by fd-Virus: on the Limit of Low Density and Derjaguin Approximation
- Transport Properties of Polyelectrolyte Solutions. Effect of Confinement in Thin Liquid Films
- Relationship Between Pore Structure and Sorption-Induced Deformation in Hierarchical Silica-Based Monoliths
- Ammonia Dissociation on Graphene Oxide: An Ab Initio Density Functional Theory Calculation
- Responsive Microgels at Surfaces and Interfaces
- Buckled Topography to Enhance Light Absorption in Thin Film Organic Photovoltaics Comprising CuPc/C60 Bilayer Laminates
