Advanced Materials, Vol.20, No.12, 2315-2315, 2008
Colloidal crystal wires
Several configurations of colloidal wires are obtained by infiltration of charge-stabilized polystyrene spheres into cylindrical pores of a silicon membrane (see figure). As channel dimensions are comparable to those of particles, wirelike arrangements are governed by the ratio between the pore diameter and the particle diameter. Also, Coulomb repulsion between particles plays a very important role in the particle ordering.