Fig. 6: Transient colloidal crystal separation and assembly correlates in time with pH transients and can be repeated over nearly 50 cycles before irreversibly separating.
From: Transient colloidal crystals fueled by electrochemical reaction products
a Images of colloids in separated (S) and crystal (H) states over several cycles of applying a 2.5 V, 400 Hz oscillatory potential and a superimposed –400 mV steady potential. b The corresponding average interparticle separation of a colloidal crystal (blue circles, left y-axis) and the fluorescein emission intensity near the cathode (solid red line, right y-axis). Yellow and red shading indicate when the multimode potential was off and on. c Images of colloids in S and H states at various cycles of applying a 2 V, 400 Hz oscillatory potential and a superimposed –400 mV steady potential. d The corresponding average interparticle separation of a colloidal crystal over 53 cycles. e The separation time (blue circles, left y-axis) and maximum separation (red circles, right y-axis) as a function of cycle number. Scale bars: 40 µm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
