Advanced Materials, Vol.23, No.24, 2716-2720, 2011
Visualizing the Structural Solid-Liquid Transition at Colloidal Crystal/Fluid Interfaces
The crystal/melt interface is central to the understanding of crystal nucleation and the morphological stability of crystal growth, but it is difficult to study experimentally. Micrometer-sized stimuli-dependent colloidal particles are assembled into large crystals using temperature fields. The structure of the colloidal crystal/melt interface is imaged directly in three dimensions. Interface reconstructions allow direct connection of the structure and interface free energy.