Colloidal stripe pattern with controlled periodicity by convective self-assembly with liquid-level manipulation.

We describe a template-free technique for arranging colloidal particles into a stripe pattern on a large scale. A simple liquid-level manipulation system was incorporated into the vertical-deposition convective self-assembly (CSA) technique. By periodically pumping a colloidal dispersion out of or into a reservoir to manipulate the liquid level, we successfully fabricated stripe patterns with various periodicities (i.e., line widths and spacings) that are unachievable with the normal CSA technique. We developed a simple model to predict the periodicity of the resultant colloidal stripes that enables the tailored fabrication of colloidal stripes with the desirable periodicity for a practical application. This technique has the advantages of versatility and scalability. By combining this technique with the two-step CSA technique (Mino et al., Langmuir2011, 27(9), 5290-5295), we fabricated a large-sized colloidal grid network pattern of silver nanoparticles.