Near-zero surface pressure assembly of rectangular lattices of microgels at fluid interfaces for colloidal lithography

Abstract

Understanding and engineering the self-assembly of soft colloidal particles (microgels) at liquid-liquid interfaces is broadening their use in colloidal lithography. Here, we present a new route to assemble rectangular lattices of microgels at near zero surface pressure relying on the balance between attractive quadrupolar capillary interactions and steric repulsion among the particles at water/oil interfaces. These self-assembled rectangular lattices are obtained for a broad range of particles and, after deposition, can be used as lithography masks to obtain regular arrays of vertically aligned nanowires via wet and dry etching processes.

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Cited by in corpus (3)

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• Soft particles at liquid interfaces: From molecular particle architecture to collective phase behavior
• Hot Brownian Motion of thermoresponsive microgels in optical tweezers shows discontinuous volume phase transition and bistability