APS March Meeting 2011
Volume 56, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 21–25, 2011;
Dallas, Texas
Abstract: Y4.00003 : Assembly of Dimer-Based Photonic Crystals
9:12 AM–9:48 AM
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Recent advances in colloid synthesis to prepare monodisperse
shape anisotropic particles provide the opportunity to address
challenges related to structural diversity in ordered colloidal
solids. In particular, computational simulations and mechanical
models suggest that upon system densification nonspherical dimer
colloids undergo disorder-order and order-order phase transitions
to unconventional solid structures including, base-centered
monoclinic crystals, degenerate aperiodic crystals, plastic
crystal or rotator, etc. based on free energy minimization. The
particle systems have notable analogy to molecular systems, where
the shape of molecules and their packing density has been shown
to critically influence structural phase behavior and lead to a
rich variety of structures, both natural and synthetic. The
materials engineering challenges have been in attaining
sufficiently monodisperse (size uniformity) colloidal building
blocks, as well as the lack of understanding and control of
self-assembly processes for non-spherical colloids. This talk
highlights our investigations of how particle shape programs the
self-organization of colloidal structures. Methods including
evaporation mediated assembly and confinement provide a platform
to understand the formation of complex colloidal structures from
non-spherical building blocks (silica-coated iron oxide,
polystyrene, hollow silica shell). Optical property simulations
for unconventional 2D and 3D structures with nonspherical
particle bases will also be discussed.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.MAR.Y4.3