Journal
POLYMERS
Volume 13, Issue 23, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/polym13234081
Keywords
colloidal crystals; polyester fabric; polystyrene; silica; sub-micron spheres; self-assembly; negative diffraction; super-prism effect
Categories
Funding
- EU of Horizon 2020, project H2020-FETOPEN-2018-2020 [863227]
- Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization
- Agency of Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS/CCCDI-UEFISCDI, within PNCDI III [PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-4951, 304PED/2020, 459 PED/2020]
- [PN 16N/2019]
- [PN 19 15 01 01]
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A polyester fabric with rectangular openings was used as a sacrificial template for the guiding of a sub-micron sphere aqueous colloid self-assembly process. Different geometries and sizes of polyester fabrics can form PCCs with various shapes. Higher colloid concentrations induce the formation of thicker walls.
A polyester fabric with rectangular openings was used as a sacrificial template for the guiding of a sub-micron sphere (polystyrene (PS) and silica) aqueous colloid self-assembly process during evaporation as a patterned colloidal crystal (PCC). This simple process is also a robust one, being less sensitive to external parameters (ambient pressure, temperature, humidity, vibrations). The most interesting feature of the concave-shape-pattern unit cell (350 mu m x 400 mu m x 3 mu m) of this crystal is the presence of triangular prisms at its border, each prism having a one-dimensional sphere array at its top edge. The high-quality ordered single layer found inside of each unit cell presents the super-prism effect and left-handed behavior. Wider yet elongated deposits with ordered walls and disordered top surfaces were formed under the fabric knots. Rectangular patterning was obtained even for 20 mu m PS spheres. Polyester fabrics with other opening geometries and sizes (~300-1000 mu m) or with higher fiber elasticity also allowed the formation of similar PCCs, some having curved prismatic walls. A higher colloid concentration (10-20%) induces the formation of thicker walls with fiber-negative replica morphology. Additionally, thick-wall PCCs (~100 mu m) with semi-cylindrical morphology were obtained using SiO2 sub-microspheres and a wavy fabric. The colloidal pattern was used as a lithographic mask for natural lithography and as a template for the synthesis of triangular-prism-shaped inverted opals.
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