Fabrication of FCC-SiO_2 Colloidal Crystals Using the Vertical Convective Self-Assemble Method

摘要

In order to determine the optimal conditions for the growth of high-quality 250 nm-SiO_2 colloidal crystals by the vertical convective self-assemble method, the Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology is applied. The influence of the evaporation temperature, the volume fraction, and the pH of the colloidal suspension is studied by means of an analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a 3~3 factorial design. Characteristics of the stacking lattice of the resulting colloidal crystals are determined by scanning electron microscopy and angle-resolved transmittance spectroscopy. Quantitative results from the statistical test show that the temperature is the most critical factor influencing the quality of the colloidal crystal, obtaining highly ordered structures with FCC stacking lattice at a growth temperature of 40 C.