Microscopic origins of the crystallographically preferred growth in evaporation-induced colloidal crystals

Citation:

Li L, Goodrich C, Yang H, Phillips KR, Jia Z, Chen H, Wang L, Zhang J, Liu A, Lu J, et al. Microscopic origins of the crystallographically preferred growth in evaporation-induced colloidal crystals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2021;118 (32) :e2107588118.

Abstract:

Self-assembly is one of the central themes in biologically controlled synthesis, and it also plays a pivotal role in fabricating a variety of advanced engineering materials. In particular, evaporation-induced self-assembly of colloidal particles enables versatile fabrication of highly ordered two- or three-dimensional nanostructures for optical, sensing, catalytic, and other applications. While it is well known that this process results in the formation of the face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice with the close-packed {111} plane parallel to the substrate, the crystallographic texture development of colloidal crystals is less understood. In this study, we show that the preferred <110> growth in the fcc colloidal crystals synthesized through evaporation-induced assembly is achieved through a gradual crystallographic rotation facilitated by mechanical stress-induced geometrically necessary dislocations.

Publisher's Version

See also: Self-assembly