Surfactant-Mediated Two-Dimensional Crystallization of Colloidal Crystals
Laurence Ramos,
1*
T. C. Lubensky,
1
Nily Dan,
2
Philip Nelson,
1
D. A. Weitz
1
Colloidal particles can form unexpected two-dimensional ordered
colloidal crystals when they interact with surfactants of the opposite
charge. Coulomb interactions lead to self-limited adsorption of the
particles on the surface of vesicles formed by the surfactants. The
adsorbed particles form ordered but fluid rafts on the vesicle
surfaces, and these ultimately form robust two-dimensional crystals.
This use of attractive Coulomb interaction between colloidal particles
and surfactant structures offers a potential new route to self-assembly
of ordered colloidal structures.
1 Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA
19104, USA.
2 Department of Chemical Engineering,
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
*
Present address: Groupe de Dynamique des Phases
Condensées, (CNRS-UMII) cc26, Université Montpellier II,
place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Present address: Department of Physics and Division of
Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
weitz{at}deas.harvard.edu
