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MEAM Seminar: “Self-assembly of Colloidal Diamond by Multiple Routes”
October 7, 2025 at 10:15 AM - 11:15 AM
There has been considerable interest in the colloidal self-assembly of photonic crystals with a diamond structure, owing to their exceptional optical properties, such as a wide photonic bandgap and relative insensitivity to disorder. These materials are valuable for applications in optical circuits, low-threshold lasers, sensors, and solar cells. Given the three-dimensional nature of photonic crystals, colloidal self-assembly is a favored fabrication method.
In this context, we outline several different approaches for the self-assembly of colloidal diamond and zincblende. Some methods utilize specific DNA interactions, while others rely on depletion interactions. One notable advantage of the depletion interaction is its capacity to guide particles that come into contact at any point on their surfaces toward the desired interlocking configuration. This funneling mechanism significantly accelerates crystallization kinetics, allowing for crystallization at lower particle concentrations. The most effective routes may involve a combination of both types of interactions.
David Pine
Silver Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, New York University
David Pine is the Julius, Roslyn, & Enid Silver Professor in the Department of Physics and also the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University. After obtaining his Ph.D. in Physics at Cornell, Professor Pine worked at Haverford College, Exxon, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has been at New York University since 2005. He is interested in soft mesoscopic materials, including colloids, emulsions, polymers, surfactant solutions, non-Brownian suspensions, and gels. He has used and developed light scattering techniques, especially multiple light scattering (diffusing-wave spectroscopy) to study the structure and dynamics of colloids and other materials. His current research covers a variety of topics, including self assembly, DNA-coated colloids, colloidal swimmers, lock-and-key colloids, random organization, and colloidal glasses.