Fabrication of stabilized colloidal crystal monolayers

A recent report described a very simple and rapid method to prepare colloidal crystal monolayers by rubbing spherical particles between two rubber plates [Park et al., Advanced Materials, 26(2014) 4633]. Here we describe a commensurately simple extension of Park's procedure to prepare films that are much more robust, yet retain the overall structure of the colloidal crystal monolayer. The procedure produces solid necks that connect pairs of particles and also connect particles to the solid. These connections between particles are achieved by first transporting liquid to menisci between the particles and then solidifying those necks by exposure to gas phase reactant and catalyst. We show that the stabilized films are much more resistant to removal of particles during a peel test. We also show that the stabilization method is effective on silica layer-by-layer films. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.