Effect of Ionic Strength and Surface Charge on Convective Deposition.

Particle-particle and particle-substrate interactions play a crucial role in capillary driven convective self-assembly for continuous deposition of particles. This systematic study demonstrates the nontrivial effects of varying surface charge and ionic strength of monosized silica microspheres in water on the quality of the deposited monolayer. Increase in particle surface charge results a broader range of parameters that result in monolayer deposition which can be explained considering the particle-substrate electrostatic repulsion in solution.