Self-Assembly Kinetics of Colloidal Particles inside Monodispersed Micro-Droplet and Fabrication of Anisotropic Photonic Crystal Micro-Particles

Abstract

A new microfluidic approach to preparing anisotropic colloidal photonic crystal microparticles is developed and the self-assembly kinetics of colloidal nanoparticles is discussed. Based on the “coffee ring” effect in the self-assembly process of colloidal silica particle in strong solvent extraction environment, we successfully prepared anisotropic photonic crystal microparticles with different shapes and improved optical properties. The shapes and optical properties of photonic crystal microparticles can be controlled by adjusting the droplet size and extraction rate. We studied the self-assembly mechanism of colloidal silica particles in strong solvent extraction environment, which has potential applications in a variety of fields including optical communication technology, environmental response, photo-catalysis and chromic material.

Keywords

• photonic crystal microparticles
• solvent extraction
• “coffee ring” effect