Spreading Solution Additives Governs the Quality of Polystyrene Particle-Based Two-Dimensional Opals

Baoyuan Cheng; Tengfei Qiu; Mingliang Jin; Guofu Zhou; Michael Giersig; Xin Wang; Eser Metin Akinoglu

doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00418

Spreading Solution Additives Governs the Quality of Polystyrene Particle-Based Two-Dimensional Opals

Langmuir. 2023 Jul 4;39(26):8996-9006. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00418. Epub 2023 Jun 19.

Authors

Baoyuan Cheng^{1

2}, Tengfei Qiu³, Mingliang Jin^{1

2}, Guofu Zhou^{1

2}, Michael Giersig^{1

4}, Xin Wang^{1

2}, Eser Metin Akinoglu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ International Academy of Optoelectronics at Zhaoqing, South China Normal University, Zhaoqing, Guangdong 526238, People's Republic of China.
² Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Information Materials and Technology & Institute of Electronic Paper Displays, South China Academy of Advanced Optoelectronics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People's Republic of China.
³ Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia.
⁴ Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw 02-106, Poland.

PMID: 37337368
DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00418

Abstract

Two-dimensional polystyrene sphere opals are important materials for nanotechnology applications and fundamental nanoscience research. They are a facile and inexpensive nanofabrication tool, but the quality factor of these opals has drastic differences between reports. Additives like ethanol, ions, and organic molecules in the aqueous particle spreading solution are known to affect the quality factor and growth efficiency of the produced opals. However, a systematic study on the effect and optimization of some of the most effective additives has not been reported until now. Here, we investigate the influence of additives on the growth efficiency and quality factor of such monolayers formed at the air-water interface without the use of a Langmuir-Blodgett trough. The additives induced large variations in the monolayer quality factor and growth efficiency, and we found that the ideal additive content of the spreading agents is 30 wt % < c_ethanol < 70 wt %, 0 < c_H₂SO₄ < 30.5 mM, and 0 < c_sty < 255.0 mM. This study provides a guideline for the rational composition and additive content of the spreading solution to obtain high-quality two-dimensional opals for further applications in nanofabrication and photonics and will enable researchers and application engineers to produce standardized nanofabrication materials.