Journal
NANO LETTERS
Volume 12, Issue 2, Pages 955-963Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/nl204030t
Keywords
Plasmonic nanoparticles; nanoscale self-assembly; liquid crystal elasticity; colloids; topological defects; optical trapping
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Funding
- Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory [DE-AC36-08GO28308]
- International Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter
- NSF [DMR-0847782, DMR-0820579, DMR-0844115, DMR-0547399, DMR-1105878]
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien
- Division Of Materials Research [844115] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Materials Research
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [0847782] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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We demonstrate scaffolding of plasmonic nanoparticles by topological defects induced by colloidal microspheres to match their surface boundary conditions with a uniform far-field alignment in a liquid crystal host. Displacing energetically costly liquid crystal regions of reduced order, anisotropic nanoparticles with concave or convex shapes not only stably localize in defects but also self-orient with respect to the microsphere surface. Using laser tweezers, we manipulate the ensuing nanoparticle-microsphere colloidal dimers, probing the strength of elastic binding and demonstrating self-assembly of hierarchical colloidal superstructures such as chains and arrays.
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