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Reversible solid-state phase transitions in confined two-layer colloidal crystals

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Abstract

Using a combination of fluorescence and bright-field optical imaging, the solid-state packing structures of semi-confined two-layer spherical colloidal crystals were observed during modulation of an external AC electric field. Upon increasing field strength, the bottom layer of colloids (layer 1) transitioned from the entropically favored hexagonal packing structure with p6m symmetry to a square-packing structure with p4m symmetry. The packing structure of layer 2 was determined by the packing structure of layer 1, with layer 2 particles resting in, and moving in registry with, the low-energy interstitial sites of layer 1. Modulation of the field strength thus resulted in a reversible transition between a face-centered cubic crystal structure and a body-centered cubic crystal structure at low and high field strengths, respectively. These structures were found to be sensitive to the particle density in the wells, with vacancies and insertions leading to the formation of mixed crystal phases at high field strengths.

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Acknowledgments

Research was carried out in part at the Micro Device Laboratory and used microscopy resources within the Laboratory for Multiscale Imaging at Stevens Institute of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA

    Zhuoqiang Jia, Alexandra Samper & Stephanie S. Lee

  2. Department of Chemistry, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Mena Youssef & Stefano Sacanna

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  1. Zhuoqiang Jia
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  2. Mena Youssef
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  3. Alexandra Samper
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  4. Stefano Sacanna
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The manuscript was written through contributions of all authors.

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ZJ received support from the Stevens Innovation & Entrepreneurship Doctoral Fellowship. SS received support from the NSF (DMR-1653465).

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Correspondence to Stephanie S. Lee.

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Jia, Z., Youssef, M., Samper, A. et al. Reversible solid-state phase transitions in confined two-layer colloidal crystals. Colloid Polym Sci 298, 1611–1617 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-020-04752-y

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