Capillary Wave-Assisted Colloidal Assembly

The self-assembly of nanoparticle colloids into large-area monolayers with long-range order is a grand challenge in nanotechnology. Using acoustic energy, i.e., acoustic annealing, to improve the crystal quality of self-assembled colloidal monolayers is a new solution to this challenge, but the characterization of the capillary waves driving the annealing process is lacking. We use a laser Doppler vibrometer and optical diffraction to uncover the frequency-dependent effects of capillary waves on the real-time self-assembly of submicrometer diameter polystyrene nanospheres at an air-water interface. Our study unambiguously demonstrates that low-frequency, e.g., sub-100 Hz, capillary waves are key to improving the long-range order of colloidal monolayers on an air-water interface. Furthermore, we demonstrate how a simple immersion transducer can generate capillary waves and how transducer placement and design affect vibrational spectra. Lastly, we show that frequency-shift keying of a high-frequency focused transducer provides a straightforward method of exciting low-frequency capillary waves that are effective at forming colloidal monolayers with excellent crystal quality, exhibited by grains over 3.5 cm².