Issue 38, 2013

Wonders of colloidal assembly

Abstract

In nature the spontaneous formation of ordered structures from molecules, called self-assembly, is a very common process occurring in inorganic matter and living organisms. It is driven by atoms, molecules, particles, granular matter, etc. trying to reach the lowest possible energy state while interacting with each other. Deeper understanding of the subtleties of such interactions will allow mimicking of this kind of behaviour to build custom structures from synthetic molecules. This review attempts to cover the existing techniques for directed self-assembly that are currently used for colloidal crystal growth with a brief explanation of the interactions involved in each technique. It provides examples of the fundamental phenomena occurring in photonic crystals that, in the future, can be exploited in various applications.

Graphical abstract: Wonders of colloidal assembly

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
25 Mar 2013
Accepted
23 Aug 2013
First published
02 Sep 2013

Soft Matter, 2013,9, 9072-9087

Wonders of colloidal assembly

O. Kruglova, P. Demeyer, K. Zhong, Y. Zhou and K. Clays, Soft Matter, 2013, 9, 9072 DOI: 10.1039/C3SM50845E

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