Self and directed colloidal assembly on patterned electrodes

Clustering of colloidal particles near an electrode surface during and after electrophoretic deposition has been reported in the literature [1, 2, 3, 4]. The aggregation of colloidal particles has made the precise assembly of two and three dimensional colloidal crystals possible. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of external electric fields to sensitively tune the interactions between colloidal particles to form ordered structures. The directed assembly of colloidal particles on patterned electrode surfaces is also investigated as a means of building three-dimensional nanostructures. Finally, a new method to map potential energy landscapes of templated substrates using a diffusing colloidal particle as a sensitive local energy probe is described.