As engineers and scientists synthesize ever-smaller structures, one source of building blocks is colloidal particles. Now, a new method enables the creation of colloidal particle structures with customizable geometry and composition.
The method, called sequential capillarity-assisted particle assembly (sCAPA), is a modification of traditional capillarity-assisted particle assembly. Both methods involve moving the meniscus of a colloidal solution across a template and relying on capillary forces to deposit colloidal particles in tiny traps set in that template. But unlike the older method, sCAPA permits the placement of one particle at a time. This allows for a much more tunable product.
“We can not only control shape and composition completely, but we also do not have to rely on any specific chemistry to join those different particles together,” says Lucio Isa, the head of the Laboratory for Interfaces, Soft Matter, and Assembly at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. “What is really remarkable about this type of assembly is that basically the geometry of the trap and the...
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