Alternative preparation and morphologies of self-assembled colloidal crystals via combining capillarity and vertical deposition between two desired substrates

We describe the two-substrate vertical deposition for the fabrication of self-assembled colloidal crystals by combining the capillarity and vertical deposition between two desired surfaces. These colloidal crystals are gifted with high mechanical stability toward the flow of liquids or solutions. They allow flexible modulating of their optical properties by infiltrating some liquids (e.g. water) in the confined colloidal crystals. We investigate the optimization of the formation of colloidal crystals by varying the pH value, as well as the concentrations of the additional solvents, electrolytes and ionic surfactants in the microsphere suspensions. The stability and the versatile fabrication of colloidal crystals would be valuable for extending investigations on self-assembled colloidal crystals and their applications in the functional materials and devices.