ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC STIMULATED ASSEMBLY OF HIERARCHICALLY POROUS, FUNCTIONAL NANOSTRUCTURES FROM 2D LAYERED SOFT MATERIALS

摘要

A method for producing a nanostructure or an article having at least a nanostructured portion includes obtaining a colloidal suspension of sheets of material for forming nanoparticles, the sheets being less than four atomic layers thick and the colloidal suspension having a preselected concentration of the sheets of material suspended therein; supplying the colloidal suspension to an electro-hydrodynamic system, the electro-hydrodynamic system including a spray nozzle, a ground electrode spaced apart from the spray nozzle, and a high voltage DC power supply electrically connected to the spray nozzle and the ground electrode, the high voltage DC Power supply being suitable for supplying at least a 0.05 kV/cm electric field between the spray nozzle and the ground electrode; providing a substrate arranged between the spray nozzle and the ground electrode such that droplets from the spray nozzle are directed to the substrate to deposit nanostructures thereon; and applying a DC voltage using the high voltage DC power supply between the spray nozzle and the ground electrode such that charged droplets from the spray nozzle are repelled from the spray nozzle and attracted towards the substrate. The DC voltage is selected such that the droplets have sizes sufficiently small to result in substantially isolated sheets within each droplet.