The Langmuir‐Blodgett Approach to Making Colloidal Photonic Crystals from Silica Spheres

Abstract

The area of colloidal photonic crystal research has attracted enormous attention in recent years as a result of the potential of such materials to provide the means of fabricating new or improved photonic devices. As an area where chemistry still predominates over engineering the field is still in its infancy in terms of finding real applications being limited by ease of fabrication, reproducibility and 'quality'- for example the extent to which ordered structures may be prepared over large areas. It is our contention that the Langmuir-Blodgett assembly method when applied to colloidal particles of silica and perhaps other materials, offers a way of overcoming these issues. To this end the assembly of silica and other particles into colloidal photonic crystals using the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method is described and some of the numerous papers on this topic, which have been published, are reviewed. It is shown that the layer-by-layer control of photonic crystal growth afforded by the LB method allows for the fabrication of a range of novel, layered photonic crystals that may not be easily assembled using any other approach. Some of the more interesting of these structures, including so-called heterostructured photonic crystals comprising of layers of spheres having different diameters are presented and their optical properties described. Finally, we offer our comments as to future applications of this interesting technology.

Surface Patterning with Colloidal Monolayers

“…[80] Colloidal monolayers consisting of micrometer-sized polystyrene particles were first deposited on solid substrates by Lenzmann et al [81] The colloids were spread from ethanolic dispersions The resulting monolayers were of low ordering. [82] Similar results were reported by several other groups for silica particles deposited via the Langmuir-Blodgett technique.…”

“…The predominant assembly techniques that use a liquid interface are conducted on Langmuir troughs. [72,80,88] Though being able to produce monolayers of large areas and exceptional high quality, the method's drawbacks are rather long preparation times and the requirement of special instruments (i.e. the Langmuir trough).…”

Особенности Дифракции Света В Упорядоченном Монослое Сфер

“…Образцы были приготовлены путем вылавливания на стеклянную подложку самоорганизованных на поверхно-сти раздела вода-воздух монослоев сфер из полистирола с номинальным диаметром D = 1060 nm, т. е. методом, близким к методу Лэнгмюра-Блоджетт [26]. Размер пленок достигал нескольких квадратных сантиметров.…”

Polyelectrolytes: Influence on Evaporative Self-Assembly of Particles and Assembly of Multilayers with Polymers, Nanoparticles and Carbon Nanotubes

“…These blocks are attractive as novel materials with potential application as components of optoelectronic devices [71], including molecules detectors and photonic crystals [72]. Various methods have been employed for building assemblies based on micro-and nanoparticles such as a spin coating [73], electro deposition [74] and vertical deposition [75,76]. An interesting method for deposition is that based on self-assembly, particularly by controlled evaporation [77].…”