Substrate wettability guided oriented self assembly of Janus particles

Self-assembly of Janus particles with spatial inhomogeneous properties is of fundamental importance in diverse areas of sciences and has been extensively observed as a favorably functionalized fluidic interface or in a dilute solution. Interestingly, the unique and non-trivial role of surface wettability on oriented self-assembly of Janus particles has remained largely unexplored. Here, the exclusive role of substrate wettability in directing the orientation of amphiphilic metal-polymer Bifacial spherical Janus particles, obtained by topo-selective metal deposition on colloidal Polymestyere (PS) particles, is explored by drop casting a dilute dispersion of the Janus colloids. While all particles orient with their polymeric (hydrophobic) and metallic (hydrophilic) sides facing upwards on hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates respectively, they exhibit random orientation on a neutral substrate. The substrate wettability guided orientation of the Janus particles is captured using molecular dynamic simulation, which highlights that the arrangement of water molecules and their local densities near the substrate guide the specific orientation. Finally, it is shown that by spin coating it becomes possible to create a hexagonal close-packed array of the Janus colloids with specific orientation on differential wettability substrates. The results reported here open up new possibilities of substrate-wettability driven functional coatings of Janus particles, which has hitherto remained unexplored.

Automated summary

Experimental and simulation studies have revealed the influence of substrate wettability on the orientation of Janus particles during self-assembly. The particles show specific orientation on hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates, while exhibiting random arrangement on neutral substrates.