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Preparation of two-dimensional direct opals by controlled assembly of silica spheres♣

S. ANACHKOV1, P. VASILEVA1,* , C. DUSHKIN1

Affiliation

  1. University of Sofia, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Laboratory of Nanoparticle Science and Technology, 1 James Bourchier Blvd., 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract

This paper has been devoted to the preparation of hard colloidal crystals by a self-assembly process. The aim of the study has been to find the precise conditions governing this process, in order to make it controllable. To accomplish our goal, we have studied the influence of factors such as: the type of solvent, system temperature, particle volume fraction and size of the silica spheres. These are synthesized following a Stöber procedure where the size is precisely controlled by a seededgrowth technique. In some of the experiments, the silica spheres are deposited in the presence of different surfactants (SDS, CTAB), thus varying the magnitude of the ζ-potential. The material of the substrate (glass or silicon) also plays a crucial part in the deposition process and during the sintering procedure. The structural regularity is characterized by scanning electron microscopy and optical absorption spectra..

Keywords

Direct opals, Optical properties, Vertical deposition.

Submitted at: Nov. 5, 2008
Accepted at: Sept. 9, 2009

Citation

S. ANACHKOV, P. VASILEVA, C. DUSHKIN, Preparation of two-dimensional direct opals by controlled assembly of silica spheres♣, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 11, Iss. 9, pp. 1355-1358 (2009)